This Enormous Fat Squirrel

The Groundhog that can weigh 15 pounds is in the same family as Chipmunks, and Prairie Dogs. They love to get into your vegetable garden and tear it up, but other than destroying your vegetable patch, they are not much of a nuisance, and they are important native wildlife wherever they exist.

The Groundhog, also known as a Woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground Squirrels known as Marmots. The Groundhog is a lowland creature of North America; it is found through much of the Eastern United States, across Canada and into Alaska.

Some people call these big boys “whistle-pigs” because they make a high-pitched whistling sound, usually a warning to other Groundhogs when they feel threatened.

Groundhogs are among the few species of true hibernators. This is the part of their behavior that has led to North American Groundhog Day tradition. After losing up to half their weight while hibernating, groundhogs usually emerge from their winter burrows in February, and that is why Groundhog Day is today. The shadow-observing tradition is not based on science. It was imported from a German tradition that had a Badger forecasting the weather— The Badger also burrows and undergoes a form of hibernation.