Woodchucks or Groundhog?

On one of our Devil’s Lake State Park, critter cams all we’ve been capturing lately is a woodchuck crossing a stream on a log. Now, let’s be fair… Who couldn’t watch that all day!? Here are some things you may not know about this critter that calls Devil’s Lake State Park home.

1. Woodchuck and Groundhog are just 2 names for the same thing! In fact, they have lots of names including ground pigs, land badgers, weenusk, red monks, and whistle pigs!
2. Woodchucks are Marmots. Low-land marmots actually, because other marmots such as the yellow-bellied and hoary marmots live in mountainous areas. And when it comes to whistling, Woodchucks got nothing on the hoary marmots!
3. Woodchucks/Groundhogs hibernate and when they do, their body temperature can drop to 37f! Their heart rate drops from 80 beats a minute to 5bpm!
4. A woodchuck’s top speed is about 8 mph… which is why they have to be cautious.. they don’t outrun much!
5. Woodchucks live in burrows in the ground… (Ah, “groundhogs”!) They will burrow up to 6 feet deep! Their burrows can reach 30 feet or more in length with 2 or more entrances. (That’s moving nearly 3 tons of dirt!)

Oh, and yeah, there’s that whole seeing their shadow thing… which may or may not work… 😉

Check the links below for lots more “chuck facts”

Derrick Mayoleth

For nearly 2 decades the Skillet Creek blog has focused on 3 main goals; To inspire you to visit and explore the Devil’s Lake region, to help you get the most your visit by sharing tips, events, and other helpful information. Lastly to advocate for our environment & wildlife and talk about how we can keep our natural areas amazing now and into the future! That last goal can sometimes cause controversy, but it’s the only way we can accomplish the first two. – Derrick Mayoleth, Owner.