Groundhogs

Alex Re

Hello, welcome to on wildlife. I'm your host, Alex Ray. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you. We take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week. And I guarantee you you're gonna come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. One of the most interesting and some would say pointless holidays celebrated in the United States is Groundhog Day. But what is a groundhog? And why do they have a holiday all to themselves? Well, you're going to find out all this information and more in this episode. This week, we're heading underground to talk about Groundhog's Day.

Grround hogs are large rodents that are related to chipmunks and squirrels, and you may also know them as woodchucks. They're the same animal. a wildlife biologist at Cornell University, estimated that if a woodchuck had to dig through wood, rather than dirt to burrow, he could dig up about 700 pounds of wood. So a woodchuck could chuck 700 pounds of wood. You can find groundhogs in the forests and grasslands, mostly in eastern and northern North America. And they're also much larger than you might think. Weighing in at over 10 pounds and about 30 inches long. that's larger than some small dogs. groundhogs can only live for around six years in the wild, but they can live a lot longer in captivity. One famous groundhog is Punxsutawney Phil, who is a famous symbol of Groundhog's Day, the legend has it that it Phil comes out of hibernation and sees his shadow, then there will be six more weeks of cold winter weather. If not, then spring comes early. This tradition actually has its roots in Chinese culture, which used candles to predict if there would be a longer winter. And Germans also did something like this, but they use the hedgehog instead. Unfortunately, there's no scientific evidence to back this up. And Phil has actually been right only about 40% of the time. depending on the time of year. groundhogs have different eating habits. In his study of 155, groundhogs and their eating patterns. Adults ate the least amount of food in March and the most in May. They're primarily herbivores, meaning that they eat lots of plants, but they do eat small amounts of other things, so we can technically classify them as omnivores. Besides plants, they can eat grubs, insects, snails, and sometimes even baby birds. They usually don't like to travel more than 150 feet from their dens in the daytime. And their main predators are coyotes, foxes, dogs, and of course, humans. And groundhog teeth are crazy because they grow at a rate of 1/16 inches a week, and they never stopped growing. If they were properly aligned, the top and the bottom teeth will grind together, keeping them from getting too long. But when they're not properly aligned, the teeth can grow so long that they could impale their lower jaw which could result in death. hibernating is one of the things that groundhogs are really well known for, and it's an important part of their survival. In order to hibernate animals have to change how their bodies work. It's not as easy as just going to sleep and waking up in a few months, and their metabolism plays a huge part in this. Studies have shown that a groundhogs metabolism changes throughout the season. It's at its highest in April and May. And it's at its lowest levels in the winter, in a ratio of about three to one. They can also change their heart rate from 80 beats per minute when they're not hibernating all the way to five beats per minute when they are, they can also change their body temperature. During hibernation a groundhogs internal body temperature can drop from 99 degrees Fahrenheit to as low as 37 degrees Fahrenheit. That's an insane change that's lethal to people. Humans lose consciousness at around 82 degrees and face death below 70 degrees. Some experiments found that groundhogs that weren't given any food and lived in temperatures of six degrees Celsius became torpid, and becoming torpid just means becoming inactive. On the other hand, groundhogs who are given food and lived in a habitat of the same temperature did not become torpid. This means that food plays a really important role in their hibernation. But researchers did figure out that the size of the groundhog doesn't determine how quickly they become torpid. groundhogs hibernate for about three to four months, but they're only torpid for two of those months. And in the time that groundhogs hibernate, they only lose about 1/4 of their body weight, because their metabolism is so slow during this time. Okay, we're going to take a break. And when we get back, I'm going to talk about how social groundhogs are.

I'm starting a new series on the podcast called notable figures in science, where I recognize black people, indigenous people, people of color, women, and people in the LGBTQ community who have significantly impacted the world through science. In honor of Black History Month, I'm going to be talking about notable black scientists through the month of February 1, I want to recognize Dr. Roger arlin. Her young, she was the first black woman to get a doctorate in zoology. She worked on a lot of projects throughout her life, including how the sun's radiation has an impact on certain marine organisms. She was also the first black woman in her field to have a research published, she contributed a great amount to the field of marine biology and what we know about some marine animals today, if you want to learn more about Dr. Young or about the series, check out our website at on wildlife.org.

Okay, we're back. groundhogs spend most of their time working on their boroughs, and they actually have multiple different boroughs. Sleeping boroughs are lined with hay like material that keep them warm in the winter, and they even have different areas for sleeping and going to the bathroom. They can also be used for storing food, and these dens can be around 20 feet long and up to six feet deep. They usually only have two entrances, but they can sometimes contain upwards of 12. And they also use their boroughs as their primary means of escape from predators. Since they don't really run very fast, they can only run around eight miles per hour. Groundhog colonies can have up to 10 individuals living in their boroughs, and in some areas, they have very defined home ranges, mail Groundhog's Day tend to have home ranges that don't mix with other male home ranges, while female home ranges do mix with males and other females. groundhogs like to meet in the spring, and the gestation period for their young is about 30 to 32 days, and females can give birth to around nine babies at a time. newborn groundhogs are born blind and without any further, and they get that for after around two weeks. Baby groundhogs don't leave their burrow until they're around a month old, but they are independent at about two months old. And then when they really start to get ready to move out of their dens. They dig small burrows almost like they're practicing so that they're prepared to build real burrows when they're adults. groundhogs are mostly solitary animals, but they do communicate with each other. One of their main ways that they communicate is through scent. And they have scent glands to do this. Other ways that they communicate is with vocalizations. They make sharp whistling noises when they sense a predator around and this is like a warning signal to the others in the colony. They also can arch their bodies showed their teeth and lift their tails when they're scared. groundhogs do have a lot of predators like eagles, foxes, coyotes and many more. And they generally have two responses when the predators are nearby. Besides warning the rest of their colony it's literally either a fight or flight response. They either flee by running into their burrow or climbing up a tree, or they try to fight off the predator using their sharp claws and big teeth. Okay, we're gonna take our last break. And when we get back, I'm going to talk about why groundhogs are important to the ecosystems that they live in. Let's see if anybody can get this trivia question. How many teeth does a tiger have? A 30? b 40, c 50? Or d 60? The answer is a Tigers have 30 teeth. And this is actually less teeth then people have we have 32.

All right, we're back. Why are groundhogs important to the ecosystems that they live in? Well, groundhogs are an extremely vital part of the food chain in North America. Not only do they help keep the vegetation in check by eating a lot of it, but they're also important prey species for predators. their burrows are also vital to the ecosystem. For example, by digging holes in the ground, groundhogs actually air rate the soil in order to promote the growth of vegetation. aeration helps plants grow by allowing air to move through the soil, as well as other nutrients that the plants need to survive like nitrogen. The burrows are also great for other animals after they've been abandoned by the groundhogs Many animals aren't as good at digging as groundhogs so they can use abandoned burrows as a new home. What's really interesting is that groundhogs are actually helping out in the medical field. Oftentimes, they're used for research on hepatitis, because groundhogs are prone to this disease. Besides all this, groundhogs are largely considered pests where they live, and they're not currently endangered, but they do cause some problems for farmers and gardeners. They've been known to eat vegetables and other plants that people would like to keep alive. But this isn't necessarily their fault, because people are inching closer and closer into their habitats and kicking groundhogs out of their own homes. This brings them closer to our homes, which in turn forces the groundhogs to feed on our crops. Because groundhogs aren't endangered, I have some organizations that are working to help animals that live in the same ecosystems that need help. For starters, the wildlife rescue league in Virginia helps to relocate and rehabilitate animals that are considered pests like the groundhog. Instead of killing groundhogs like many people are inclined to do, they can bring these animals back where they belong in the wild. The Defenders of Wildlife and the National humane education society are also great organizations that help the conservation of America's wildlife. Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me as we explored the world of groundhogs. If you want more information about groundhogs, or you just want to suggest a new animal for me to talk about, you can email on wildlife dot podcast@gmail.com You can find the sources that we use for this podcast and links to organizations that we reference@www.on wildlife.org Don't forget to tune in next Wednesday for another awesome episode. And that's on wildlife.

Jess Avellino

You've been listening to on wildlife with Alex Re brought to you every Wednesday.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai