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Feb 2, 2024 · What’s the Difference Between a Groundhog and a Woodchuck? Every year, we’re asked if a groundhog is the same thing as a woodchuck. Yup. There’s no difference (taxonomically). It’s the same burrowing rodent, Marmota monax. The word you use is more of a reflection of where you live.
Feb 2, 2023 · The club says Groundhog Day is the same today as when it first started — if the old-timey garb and scrolls are any sign — just with far more participants.
- Rachel Treisman
- European Origins
- The Groundhog’s Forecast and Canadian Winters
- Meteorological Data
The origins of Groundhog Day date back to medieval Europe. The day of 2 February corresponds with Candlemas, a Christian festival (see Religious Festivals) during which candles are lit, hence the celebration’s name. It dates back to pagan times, when farmers would purify their land by carrying torches in procession before sowing time. Excess flour ...
Canadian winters are much longer and more intense than those in Europe. As winter food stores got low, the first European settlers hoped that spring would arrive early so they could sow earlier and therefore harvest earlier. However, the groundhog emerges from hibernation later than the European hedgehog, and it is much less likely to stir, even on...
Groundhog Day organizers maintain that the rodents’ predictions are accurate 75 to 90 per cent of the time. However, Canadian meteorological data prove that the groundhogs’ success rate is quite low. Meteorological data from 13 Canadian cities over the past 30 to 40 years indicate that there have been an equal number of sunny and cloudy days on 2 F...
Jan 24, 2018 · A sunny Groundhog Day means cold weather is coming. A cloudy day means fair weather is on the way. Confused?
- Joel Shannon
- Groundhogs are also known as woodchucks or “whistle-pigs.” The familiar name woodchuck actually has nothing to do with wood, and stems from the Native American names for them: wuchak, wejack, and possibly otchek, which is a name for fishers.
- They are actually large squirrels. Capable of weighing up to 15 pounds, groundhogs are among the largest members of the squirrel family Sciuridae and within the taxonomic tribe of marmots or ground squirrels—a group that also includes chipmunks and prairie dogs.
- Groundhogs are important intermediaries in the food chain. Primarily herbivores, groundhogs eat a variety of plants, including from people’s gardens.
- Pregnancy goes by fast for them. Groundhog mating season is in the early spring and, after only a month-long pregnancy, mother groundhogs typically give birth to a litter of two to six blind, hairless babies.
Feb 2, 2024 · The groundhog — arguably the most famous member of his species and the most recognizable of all the country's animal prognosticators — did what he has done for the last 138 years: search for a...
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Feb 2, 2023 · Feb. 2 is officially Groundhog Day in Canada and the U.S., and that means multiple “official” groundhogs in different regions have stepped up to the plate to predict whether residents will endure...
