Wild Earth Integration

Happy Groundhog Day everybody!

Sorry for being MIA yesterday, I was having a bit of a long weekend (don’t be jealous, it was only because I had a Monday dentist appointment in my hometown). *thumbs down*

In other less toothy news, today’s the day! Will the groundhog see his shadow? Will spring ever come back? Today is the only day a year we place all of our seasonal hopes and ambitions into the paws of a rodent.

But he’s a classy rodent at least.

To celebrate this rodent’s return, I give you the Wild 5: Groundhog Edition.

• Groundhog Day wasn’t always Groundhog Day. Ancient Romans used to believe that early February was a good indicator of future weather patterns, but instead they turned to a hedgehog for their predictions. So it was more of a Hedgehog Day.

• Groundhogs are one of 14 species of marmots. They’re cousins to the squirrel (but don’t often show up to family reunions) and are also called woodchucks and whistle pigs. This name comes from the loud whistle they use as an alarm call when danger drops by.

• Groundhogs build themselves burrow mansions under the ground with many chambers, including a bathroom. They’ll remove 700 pounds of soil for a 20 foot burrow. In other words, if groundhogs did chuck wood, they would chuck about 700 pounds worth. Now you know.

• When he hibernates, Mr. Groundhog reduces his heart rate to 5 beats a minute. Normally, that’s up somewhere around 80. If you’re a fan of the Princess Bride, we call that ‘mostly dead’.

• Groundhogs can climb trees. Remember that the next time a groundhog is chasing you and you think a tree will save you! *groundhog victory*

For the record, I think there should be more animal related holidays. Like Blue Footed Booby Beach Day and Turtle Tax Day.

Can you think of any others?

Keep it wild!