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by Scottie Westfall

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Large rodents predict the weather

February 2, 2010 by retrieverman

Source.

Today is the day of the groundhog.

That’s what I call Marmota monax.

Most Americans call this animal a woodchuck.

Other names for it are the “land-beaver” (LOL) and the whistle-pig (because they do whistle as an alarm call).

It is the most common marmot species in North America. Its range extends from Alaska to Alabama, and it is the only species of marmot in the eastern US and Canada.

Tomorrow is their day, because in the US and Canada, the hibernating groundhogs will be woken from their slumber. These animals are true hibernators, and although they do wake up during February, even captive woodchucks aren’t moving around this early in the month.

The animals are not being woken up to see if they are still alive after months of dormancy, which actually would make some sense.

No, these animals are called upon to do something far more important.

You see, we might have sophisticate technology and even more sophisticated models for making weather forecasts, but we need something else.

After all, they still sell Farmer’s Almanacs in this country.

And when it comes to predicting when the winter weather will subside, what better expert to consult than a giant hibernating squirrel?

So tomorrow morning, captive groundhogs throughout the US and Canada will be woken up from their winter slumber. Their handlers will be wearing thick gloves or gauntlets when they wake up the woodchuck weathermen. The reason is simple. These creatures hate being taken out of hibernation, and they have sharp teeth.

If the groundhog sees its shadow, then there will be six more weeks of winter. If the groundhog does not, then there will be an early spring. I’ve always wondered how they knew what the groundhog saw,  because I don’t think a drowsy groundhog is going to see much.

This holiday happens every February 2. Its roots are in the German custom of using badgers or hedgehogs to predict the length of the winter at Candlemas. Large numbers of Germans settled in Pennsylvania during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  They discovered that their new homes had no hedgehogs and no badgers (North American badgers don’t live that far east.)

So the Germans began using groundhogs. Most of these Germans were not from the parts of the German-speaking world that had Alpine marmots, so no one thought to connect this North American species and the one found in Europe.

The most famous of these groundhog festivals is the one held in the hamlet of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. The famous groundhog that will be making his weather prognostication at that well-known festival is Punxsutawney Phil.  And this year,  Phil will send his prediction via text message!

And he won’t be the only groundhog making these predictions. There are scores of captive groundhogs that will be called upon to predict when winter will end.

And yes, there is also a film about Groundhog Day that is worth watching:

Source.

I just hope that tomorrow doesn’t start repeating itself.

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Posted in Absolute Piffle, wildlife | Tagged groundhog, Groundhog Day, woodchuck | 3 Comments

3 Responses

  1. on February 2, 2010 at 1:57 pm Peggy Richter

    The Groundhog may be worthless, but I was surpised to find that there are some animal predictors that do have some accuracy:
    http://www.atmosphere.mpg.de/enid/910e3114659b8881f55e8bf1b6e2b86f,0/3__Folklore_Weather_Forecasting/-_Plants_and_animals_3sn.html
    or at http://tinyurl.com/y8zg2hj

    http://www.googobits.com/articles/p0-1856-how-to-predict-the-weather.html

    Theoretically, the long range weather predictions done these days are more accurate, but they probably aren’t as much fun. I don’t think anyone really believes the groundhog.
    vr, Peggy Richter


    • on February 2, 2010 at 2:08 pm retrieverman

      If I see rabbits and/or box turtles out in the middle of the day. I can bet it’s going to rain.

      Both of these animals come out around dusk. Rabbits come out because that’s the time when the nocturnal predators haven’t started hunting and the diurnal ones have given up for the day. However, they will come out in the middle of the day if it is going to rain, simply because the rain prevents them from hearing the approach of any predator. Box turtles come out of the undergrowth in the middle of the day if they sense a good rain. They normally come out when the dew begins to fall, which is when the slugs and earthworms are moving about. If it rains, the earthworms will be out.

      Another one I use is the barred owl. If I hear a barred how calling in the middle of the day in the winter, I can bet it’s going ot snow very soon. I don’t know why they do this, because as soon as they do it, the crows just pile them.


  2. on February 3, 2010 at 11:24 pm Russell Constable

    In North Queensland, Australia, flying termite swarms are a sure sign of rain as are ants moving to higher ground.
    Groundhog day is indeed a pearl of a movie with some brilliant messages and Bill Murray does some good work with the part for sure.
    It was interesting to learn a bit about groundhogs and the origin of this “wake the groundhog” activity from you and my groundhog/woodchuck confusion is now sorted, thanks Scotty



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