The Groundhog is always very careful before emerging from its den. Robust and plump, it is the largest rodent in North America after the beaver and the porcupine. The groundhog prefers rolling land that is well-drained and located near woodlots, such as prairies, pastures, cultivated fields and brushwood. Its range extends over a diameter of about a hundred metres. When groundhogs abandon their dens, these are then taken over by several other species of mammals.
A network of paths links its den to the areas where it forages for food. Little whistlers. Born blind and naked, baby groundhogs remain in the den for the first four weeks.
The mother nurses them and feeds them fresh grass. They are weaned when they are about 6 weeks old. Groundhogs are also called woodchucks and whistlers. The den. It is located at a depth of to cm. Well-padded with dry grasses, it consists of at least two chambers: a nesting chamber and an area for waste and garbage. The groundhog also has a winter den which it burrows deeper in the ground for protection from the frost.
A hearty appetite. The groundhog is an herbivore and feeds primarily on wild vegetation. It will on occasion eat insects and baby birds. Instead of storing food, the groundhog stuffs itself to survive the winter without eating.
At the least sign of danger, the Groundhog will emit a series of short shrill whistles to alert other groundhogs in the area. Because of these calls, groundhogs are also called «whistlers». Groundhogs are easy to trap. Their main predators are lynx, coyote and fox.
People also hunt them for their meat. When attacked, groundhogs are relentless in defending themselves. In spring, following a lengthy period of hibernation, the Groundhog emerges from its den.
Although it is starving, it can only find bark and twigs to feed on until the snow melts to reveal green vegetation. Spring is mating time for groundhogs. A single male can breed with several females. Males live alone during the rest of the year. Males have non-overlapping territories as well, though any male territory coincides with one to three mature females' territories.
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. 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. Family values. 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.
Interactions within a female's group are generally friendly. But interactions between female groups - even when those groups are shared by the same adult male - are rare and aggressive. Even though daddy woodchuck doesn't live at home, from the breeding season through the first month of the infants' lives, he visits each of his female groups every day. Medical models. Groundhogs happen to be a good animal model for the study of hepatitis B-induced liver cancer.
In fact, if infected with Woodchuck Hepatitis B virus, the animal will always go on to develop liver cancer, making them useful for the study both of liver cancer and of hepatitis B. Look up! Though they spend most of their time on or under the ground, groundhogs can also climb trees. Eskimo kisses.
Groundhogs greet each other with an odd variation of the eskimo kiss : one groundhog approaches and touches his or her nose to the mouth of the second groundhog. Or, as scientists call it, they make "naso-oral contact. Meier, P. The views expressed are those of the author s and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
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.
Like these relatives, groundhogs are powerful diggers that make large, complex underground burrows. These burrows are not only potentially helpful to soils for aeration and nutrient recycling, but they are often used by other burrowing animals such as foxes, opossums, raccoons, and skunks. Groundhogs are important intermediaries in the food chain. But they also may eat things we consider pests, such as grubs, other insects, and snails. They are even reported to eat other small animals such as baby birds.
However, baby groundhogs sometimes do fall prey to raptors such as hawks, owls, and eagles. 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.
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