Interactions within a female's group are generally friendly. In general, groundhog social groups consist of one adult male and two adult females, each with an offspring from the previous breeding season (usually female), and the current litter of infants. However, a significant proportion - thirty five percent - of females stick around longer, leaving home just after their first birthdays, right before mom's new litter arrives.Ĥ. Baby groundhogs! Infants stick around home for only about two to three months after being born in mid-April, and then they disperse and leave mom's burrow.
Males have non-overlapping territories as well, though any male territory coincides with one to three mature females' territories.ģ. During this time, their ranges may overlap by as much as ten percent. For females, there is very little overlap between home ranges except for the late spring and early summer, as females try to expand their territories. Both male and female groundhogs tend to occupy the same territories year after year. It is derived from the Algonquian name for the critters, wuchak.Ģ. The name woodchuck has nothing to do with wood. The name whistle-pig comes from the fact that, when alarmed, a groundhog will emit a high-pitched whistle as a warning to the rest of his or her colony. Groundhogs are also variously referred to as woodchucks, whistle-pigs, or land-beavers.
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One for each extra week of winter we're going to have, plus one extra for good luck.ġ. In honor of the holiday, I've rounded up seven things about groundhogs that you probably didn't know.
If sunny enough for a shadow, the groundhog will return to the comfort of its burrow, and winter will continue for an additional six weeks. Which, well, isn't ever really wintery at all.Īccording to tradition, the groundhog ( Marmota monax) peeks out of its burrow today, and checks to see if it has a shadow. This year, we probably know the answer: winter hasn't been very wintery, even for Los Angeles. Happy Groundhog Day! Today is the day each year in which we look towards a giant rodent to find out how much more winter we'll have to endure.
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