5 Fun Facts About Groundhogs (2024)

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What are 5 interesting facts about groundhogs? ›

Groundhogs spend most of their time in their underground burrows, which have one main entrance that can be identified by a large mountain of excavated soil immediately outside the entrance hole. The burrow also has one to four auxiliary entrances. All groundhog burrows are basically laid out in the same way.

This is critical since groundhogs can only reach maximum speeds of about 8 mph (fast enough for a human jogger, to be sure! — but not nearly as fast as their predators can run). Groundhogs spend almost all of their time eating or sleeping. During warmer months, they munch on seeds, nuts, tree bark, fruits, and grasses.

Groundhogs have 18 chewing teeth, as well as four chisel-shaped incisors. Their two upper incisors constantly grow—about 1/16 of an inch every week! So groundhogs must constantly gnaw on leaves, trees, grass, and roots to keep the growth in check.

Lifespan: In the wild, groundhogs can live up to six years with two or three being average. In captivity, groundhogs reportedly live up to 14 years. Breeding: Groundhogs tend to be solitary except in the spring when a litter of four to six young are born.

Sleeping is their favorite hobby. Few animals are as dedicated to hibernating as groundhogs. Known as “true hibernators,” they snooze from late fall to late winter or early spring, which can mean up to as many as six months of deep sleep, depending on their climate.

This whole business of Punxsutawney Phil predicting the weather is possible in part because groundhogs are one of the few animals that are true hibernators. Groundhogs enter into a state of deep sleep in late fall and remain hibernating for about three months, emerging in late winter.

Groundhog Behavior

Hibernation: Groundhogs are true hibernators, entering a deep sleep in October and emerging in early spring. During hibernation, a groundhog's temperature drops from 99° F to 40° F, and its heartbeat slows from 80 beats per minute to 5.

Despite their stocky build, they are surprisingly quick. Groundhogs are also good swimmers and tree climbers. They have two layers of fur: a dense grey undercoat and a longer coat of banded guard hairs that gives the groundhog a “frosted” appearance.

The primary predators of groundhogs are hawks, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, dogs and humans. However, motorized vehicles kill many groundhogs each year.

Can groundhogs bite? ›

Dangers of Groundhog Bites

One of the biggest risks associated with groundhog bites is the transmission of rabies. Groundhogs are known carriers of the virus, which causes flu-like symptoms that progress into delirium, hallucinations, and insomnia. Rabies is fatal if left untreated.

The groundhog – woodchuck, whistle pig or whatever you call this furry critter – has an interesting life. Beyond forecasting the end of winter in Punxsutawney every Feb. 2, groundhogs are known for feeding in fields, along roads and burrowing underground.

Groundhogs are an extremely intelligent animal, forming complex social networks, able to understand social behavior, form kinship with their young, understand and communicate threats through whistling, and work cooperatively to solve tasks such as burrowing.

Groundhogs have a different secret talent

They both whistle at potential mates. It's because of this odd adaptation that groundhogs are also known as “whistle-pigs” (and lecherous day laborers known simply as “pigs”).

Baby groundhogs go by several names. They can be called pups, kits, and cubs. Groundhogs usually give birth to litters with around three to six pups, though they can occasionally give birth to 10 young in some litters. Adult groundhogs are also called woodchucks and even whistlepigs.

The Groundhog Day celebration is rooted in Germanic tradition that says that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on February 2, the Christian celebration of Candlemas, winter and cold weather will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says, spring will come early.