Groundhog

Much like the movie Groundhog Day, the Swedish botanist, zoologist, and physician Carl Linnaeus returns again in this entry as he was the first to scientifically describe this creature, although he didn’t name it Punxsutawney Phil. The groundhog has garnered much popularity due to the yearly February 2 Groundhog Day celebrations.

Groundhog Day festivities take place in many locations all over North America and they all have their own named groundhogs, such as Wiarton Willie, Jimmy the Groundhog, Dunkirk Dave, and Staten Island Chuck to name a few. However, the groundhog itself goes by many names, a woodchuck, chuck, wood-shock, groundpig, whistlepig, whistler, thickwood badger, Canada marmot, monax, moonack, weenusk, red monk and, among French Canadians in eastern Canada, siffleux.

Although the groundhog belongs to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots, most other species tend to live in rocky and mountainous areas but our little furry friend is quite content to live his life as a lowland creature.