Eight things you may not know about Groundhogs

February 2 is Groundhog Day, so I asked our Lowcountry Zoo zookeepers, do we have groundhogs in South Carolina?

We do! We call them Woodchucks here but they are the same animal. Both a Groundhog and a Woodchuck are genus and species Marmota monax. They are large members of the squirrel family and are closely related to other species of marmots in North America. They also are known as whistle pigs and land beavers. Here are some other fun facts supplied by lead zookeeper, Caleb Dennis:

1. Groundhogs are among the few animals that are true hibernators, fattening up in the warm seasons and snoozing for most of three months during the chilly times.
2. While hibernating, a woodchuck’s body temperature can drop from about 99 degrees Fahrenheit to as low as 37 degrees.  As a comparison, humans go into mild hypothermia when their body temperature drops a mere 3 degrees, lose consciousness at 82 degrees, and face death below 70 degrees.
3. The heart rate of a hibernating woodchuck slows from about 80 beats per minute to 5.
4. Breathing slows from around 16 breaths per minute to as few as 2.
5. During hibernation—150 days without eating—a woodchuck will lose no more than a fourth of its body weight thanks to all the energy saved by the lower metabolism.
6. During warm seasons, a groundhog may pack in more than a pound of vegetation at one sitting, which is much like a 150-pound man scarfing down a 15-pound steak.
7. To accommodate its bodacious appetite, woodchucks grow upper and lower incisors that can withstand wear and tear because they grow about a sixteenth of an inch each week.
8. Woodchuck burrows, which the animals dig as much as 6 feet deep, can meander underground for 20 feet or more, usually with two entrances, but in some cases with nearly a dozen.

While their range extends throughout eastern and central North America, we don't see many in our area. They are more common in the midlands to upstate of South Carolina. 

Happy Groundhog Day! And if you didn't know, bundle up for 6 more weeks of winter because Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning.