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A young woodchuck has recently been making daily visits to the area right behind our house. Maybe it's interested in the sunflower seeds the birds haphazardly fling everywhere while at our feeders.
It has been scampering away whenever I go out there, defying my efforts to get a good photo... until recently. Finally, it let me get reasonably close for a few photos (FIRST PHOTO).
Let's dig into this woodchuck business.
First, what the heck is a woodchuck, anyway?
Sometimes, people get confused about woodchucks because they are called by so many colloquial names: groundhog, marmot, groundpig, whistle-pig, thickwood badger, monax, weenusk, land beaver, and Canada marmot, among others. Regardless, the scientific name is Marmota monax. It is one of several species of marmots. Two other species, the yellow-bellied marmot and hoary marmot live in mountain areas of western North America, but not here in the Midwest.
Woodchucks are rodents. Specifically, they are a very large type of ground squirrel. They grow up to 14 pounds, making them the second largest rodent in Missouri... the beaver is the winner, growing up to 90 pounds!
Wanna know something cool? Baby woodchucks are called chucklings (SECOND PHOTO).
Woodchucks did not get their name from wood or from chucking things. The name actually comes from the Algonquian name for this animal, wuchak.
Still, the name has resulted in my all-time favorite tongue-twisty, rhymey question and answer:
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck could chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
I won't bother talking about Groundhog Day, which is a kind-of holiday based on a rather silly superstition. After all, I'm sure you've seen the movie... again, and again, and again...
I could go on and on about woodchucks (because they're awesome), but I'll wrap it up with my admiration for woodchucks as master burrowers. Whenever these chubby rodents dig a burrow, they bring about six cubic feet of soil to the surface (which is actually very good for the soil). The burrows are often over twenty feet long, with side chambers for various purposes, including a pooping chamber. The nest chamber is lined with dried grass and leaves to make it comfy. And, wisely, woodchuck burrows not only have a main entrance hole, they also have a spy hole (which doubles as an escape hole when necessary).
Next time you see a woodchuck, tell it Trish and I said hello.
