- This article is about the mammal. The name Woodchuck is also used for a Woodpecker.
The Woodchuck (Marmota monax), also called Groundhog or Whistle Pig, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. Most marmots live in rocky and mountainous areas, but the Woodchuck is a creature of the lowlands. It is widely distributed in North America, from Alaska to Alabama and Georgia. In the western United States it is found only in Alaska and northern Washington.
Woodchucks are typically 40–65cm long (including a 15-cm tail) and weigh 2–4 kilograms. They can live up to six years in the wild, and ten years in captivity.
The Woodchuck is one of a small number of species that have grown greatly in numbers since the arrival of European settlers in North America, since the clearing of forests provided it with much suitable habitat. It prefers open country and the edges of woodland. As a consequence, it is a familiar animal to many people in the United States and Canada.
Woodchucks are excellent burrowers, and they use burrows for sleeping, rearing young, and hibernation.
In the United States and Canada, there is a Groundhog Day celebration that gives the Woodchuck some added popularity.
The name woodchuck has nothing etymologically to do with wood. It stems from an Algonquian name for the animal (possibly Narraganset), wuchak. This confusion led to the common tongue-twister, "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? — As much wood as a woodchuck would chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood."
The Wall Street Journal quotes wildlife expert Richard Thomas as calculating that the average Woodchuck moves approximately 35 cubic feet (1 m³), or 700 pounds (320 kg), of dirt when digging a burrow.
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