Woodchucks
I shouldn’t be, but I always am surprised when I point out a very common animal and people say they never heard of it. This happened several times this spring while running my Common Loon photo workshops. I had a family of Woodchuck, a mother and five young, living on my property, and just about everyone taking the photo tours asked “what is that?” The Woodchuck, also known as a Groundhog (Marmota monax), is a large marmot member in the squirrel family (Sciuridae). They are closely related to Marmots, which are commonly found in the western half of the United States. The Woodchuck is found in the eastern half of the country, into Canada, reaching into Alaska. Unlike the Marmots of the west, which are high elevation creatures, the Woodchuck are found in low elevations, typically in forested regions. The etymology of their name is completely unrelated to wood or chucking. It comes from the Algonquian name for the animal “wuchak”. They are also sometimes called Whistle-pig, or Ground Pig. Both of these names come from the overall chubby appearance of these animals. They are a type or kind of “ground squirrel”. Woodchucks are considered the most solitary of the marmot species. They are crucial habitat engineers, which means the burrows they dig improve the soil health. They are very intelligent critters, often forming complex social networks and lasting relationships with their young. They have complex communication skills, have well defined social behaviors and work cooperatively when doing things such as digging burrows. They have excellent hearing and eyesight, contrary to what a lot of people think. Male Woodchucks are larger than females. An adult male weighs around 6 to 8 pounds while females are around 5 to 7 pounds. Both males and females put on a considerable amount of extra weight by the end of summer. Typically, three to four extra pounds. This is extremely important because they are true hibernators. This means once they go down for hibernation in the fall, they don’t wake up until spring. If they don’t have enough body fat, or fuel, they can run out of energy before spring and will die during hibernation. They put on all this weight on a vegetarian diet. They eat only plants, including berries, but Dandelions are at the top of their preferred food list. An adult can eat around 1 pound of vegetation per day, and in the spring, most of that are dandelions. This is great news for anyone who doesn’t like dandelions growing in their yard. Woodchucks excavate burrows underground with multiple chambers. Some chambers are for sleeping, one for a nursery, one for waste, and another for hibernation. The length of the burrow isn’t very long, only about 6 to 10 feet, but one of the longest was 24 feet long. Often, people mistakenly believe that their burrows will undermine a foundation. According to the Humane Society of the United States, you would need to have a lot of Woodchucks all burrowing at the same time, and same place, over a very long time to cause any significant damage. Abandoned burrows benefit many other species by providing shelter for rabbits, raccoons, skunks, otters, chipmunks and many more in addition to helping to turn over the soils. Based on my own experience with a mother Woodchuck and 5 young, over a 2 month period, they were adorable neighbors who only brought joy and life to my yard. Until next time… Stan Tekiela is an author, naturalist, and wildlife photographer who travels extensively to study and photograph wildlife. He can be followed on Instagram and Facebook. He can be contacted via his website at naturesmart.com.