Yesterday, Friday the 13th, was also Groundhog Day for me—I spotted this Groundhog (Marmota monax) while exploring one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. At first I thought it might be a beaver or a muskrat, species that I am more used to seeing, but I got a good look at its tail and it was clearly not the flattened tail of a beaver nor the long rat-like tail of a muskrat.
When hearing of groundhogs, some Americans will immediately think of the annual celebration when a groundhog is taken out of its burrow and forecasts the length of the winter, depending on whether or not it can see its shadow. Others will think instead of the 1993 comedy movie Groundhog Day in which the actor Bill Murray is caught in a loop and repeats the same day over and over again. A few others might recall an ongoing GEICO insurance commercial in which woodchucks (another name for groundhogs) chuck wood.
It turns out that I actually know very little about these animals so I did a little research and learned that groundhogs are one of the few species that enter into true hibernation. According to Wikipedia, “they often build a separate “winter burrow” for this purpose. This burrow is usually in a wooded or brushy area and is dug below the frost line and remains at a stable temperature well above freezing during the winter months. In most areas, groundhogs hibernate from October to March or April, but in more temperate areas, they may hibernate as little as three months. To survive the winter, they are at their maximum weight shortly before entering hibernation. When the groundhog enters hibernation, there is a drop in body temperature to as low as 35 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees C), heart rate falls to 4–10 beats per minute and breathing rate falls to one breath every six minutes. During hibernation, they experience periods of torpor and arousal. Hibernating woodchucks lose as much as half their body weight by February.” (UPDATE: I later checked other sources and most of them suggest that the respiration rate drops to two per minute when the groundhog is hibernating as compared with a normal rate of 16 breaths per minute.)
Perhaps this groundhog had recently emerged from his winter sleep and was looking for things to eat when I spotted it. Fortunately all kinds of things are starting to grow and hopefully he will have few problems in filling his stomach.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Wow! One breath every six minutes? That’s amazing. I’m glad to see this guy made it through the winter. I hope he finds plenty to eat.
That’s real hibernation. I checked around a bit more and wonder if Wikipedia got it wrong–most other sources say the respiration rate drops from a normal rate of 16 breaths per minute to as few as two.
Nice Mike! We had quite a few where we used to live. They did a lot of damage chewing through floors in the cabana and other buildings.
Yikes. I have heard that they can be pretty destructive and a nuisance to homeowners, but it was cool to see one in a natural environment. Like most rodents, their teeth grow all the time so they have to keep chewing, though apparently the teeth stop growing during hibernation.
Really nice photos, Mike!
Thanks, Pete. It was something a bit different for me to photograph.
One of the first things I noticed in the Lowcountry was the absence of Ground Hogs. They always make an interesting image on a slow day, at least up north they did.
For me it was a rarity–I think this was only the second time that I have seen a groundhog.
Always an education. I assume he did not see his shadow.
It was sunny earlier in the day, but cloudy when I took the shot, so I don’t think he saw his shadow. 🙂
He looks in good shape for this time of year. Thanks for the interesting details, Mike. I tend to dismiss these critters as evil garden plunderers, but they are just doing their job. 😉
In some ways, I suspect that groundhogs are a bit like beavers–they are wonderful to see in the wild, but can be real nuisances when they are forced to share their environments with humans. 🙂
So true!
You want to hope that one of these critters never finds your garden!
Human habitations and wild creatures like groundhogs and beavers don’t seem to mix well together. It seems that the same is often true about weeds–some see them as beautiful and others see them as dangerous to their planted vegetation.
Except in the case of invasive species from other lands I believe it is we who have invaded their existence. It’s up to us to learn to coexist.
Very cute!
I used to think of groundhog sightings as lucky and would refer to days when I saw more than one “a two-groundhog day”, “a three-groundhog day”, and so on. The more groundhogs, the more good luck, which is something we can all use these days. I used to see them from my car as I was driving south on I-270 past the NIST campus. Now, I mainly see them in the park. But there was one unforgettable groundhog that moved into a cushy home under our front veranda, back in the 80s. We tried trapping him (and caught an unfortunate opossum instead). We tried everything, but what finally worked was loud rock music. He packed his bags and left in disgust one morning, to our delight. One groundhog can eat your whole garden.
Loud rock music? Isn’t that what the government used against Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega? I have heard that groundhogs can absolutely devastate a garden with their burrows and foraging. As I mentioned in another comment, the love/hate relationship with creatures like groundhogs and beavers seems to depend on where they are found. I think the same is true for weeds, which some characterize as “unloved flowers.”
I think of them as plants in the wrong place (their place–their natural habitat). Humans seem to prefer exotics to natives. Personally, I love dandelions (they’re so cheerful!) and other “weeds”, and I hate my lawn. I would love to get rid of it entirely. Our back yard is wooded, but the front is lawn. My husband keeps telling me that whatever we put there in its place would need the same maintenance. Maybe so.
How fortunate for you to find one in its own day! They are also known as “whistle pigs,” because of an alert call that they give when they sense danger. Gardeners are able to turn the tables on them, however, and they have, at times, been considered a delicacy. There’s a folk song about them; here’s one version that I was able to find with a short search: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYMUncLQs34
Thanks for the info, Gary. I wasn’t close enough to hear if the groundhog made a sound when it disappeared from sight. It wasn’t the official Groundhog Day when I spotted this one–it was my own unofficial Groundhog Day. My approach with holidays is that they should be celebrated more often than once a year. This morning on the radio I heard one announcer suggest that we should all put up our Christmas lights now to give hope and cheer to our neighbors during this time of social distancing.