Wiarton Willy, Punxsutawney Phil and their kith and kin are scientifically known as Marmota monax. Call them groundhogs, woodchucks, even marmots if you wish; all are equally correct.
These super-sized squirrels weigh in at 1.6 to 6.8 kilograms (4 to 15 pounds). This requires about half a kilogram of food a day, mid-spring to mid-fall.
Not a few urban dwellers today are totally unfamiliar with what a groundhog is. In fact, claimed Canadian comedian Don Harron playing Ontario farmer Charlie Farquharson, his son brought a city girl up to his farm near Parry Sound where she expected a ‘groundhog’ to be a pork sausage!
Invading the garden, a hungry Marmota monax may trample much of what they don’t feast on – beans, peas, carrot tops, lettuce, corn, squash – but adore, in season, melons, fallen apples and similar sweet foodstuffs. They also happily nosh down on not a few different flowers. Lacking a neighbouring garden, in the wild they feed principally on grass, clover, and almost anything else green. Groundhogs call home from sea to sea, Labrador in the east to British Columbia in the west.
Only Newfoundland and the extreme north are free of their presence. In the U.S., they are found in the northeastern and central states, with a branch extending from Canada’s Yukon up into Alaska. In the southern part of its range, it may emerge from winter hibernation as early as February.
Early immigrants from Central Europe seem to have confused this with their folklore from “over home” with a native and smaller beast. This creature was said to come out of its burrow on 2nd February. If it could see its shadow at that time, there would be four more weeks of winter. In attempts to promote tourism in their otherwise winter-bound communities some smart business operators have picked upon this legendary emergence.
Ontario’s Wiarton, near the base of the Bruce Peninsular, even received a government grant. Wiarton Willy, as the critter is called, does not always take kindly to being woken, taken from his snug burrow and urged to see his shadow. In fact, on one memorable occasion, he showed his appreciation by peeing long and copiously all down the mayor’s white tuxedo. (For more on Wiarton Willie visit
wiarton-willie.org)
