How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck Quiz

Answer: Yes

Woodchuck and groundhog are two different names for the same species, Marmota monax. Woodchucks can live for 3 to 6 years in the wild and up to 14 years in captivity. They like to sleep up to 20 hours a day and are most active mid-morning or late afternoon.

They will have one brood in the spring and after 30 days of pregnancy, give birth to between 2 and 6 blind, naked pups. Momma woodchuck will take care of chucklings until they are ready to go out on their own.

Answer: Beavers

Beavers are actually part of the Castoridae family. While they are also rodents, beavers are semi-aquatic, preferring to live near water. Beavers are also nocturnal while woodchucks are diurnal. Beavers have webbed feet to help with swimming and, of course, a fat tail, while woodchucks have sharp claws and short tails. Ground squirrels, prairie dogs, and yellow-bellied marmots are part of the Sciuridae family.

In fact, sometimes woodchucks are called giant squirrels or marmots. Rather confusing, isn't it?

Answer: Lowland meadows

Woodchucks prefer to live in lowland meadows on the border of woodlands while most other marmots prefer mountain and tundra areas. Woodchucks do like having trees nearby since they can climb almost as well as squirrels to escape predators. They also can swim and typically are not far from their burrows making them difficult prey to catch.

Answer: Whistles

Woodchucks are very intelligent and will use whistles to warn each other of danger. They also will use whistles during courtship and to communicate during mating season. After mating, the male woodchuck will typically leave the burrow and may or may not come back in the fall. Woodchucks are typically solitary creatures when not mating or raising young.

Answer: To fatten up for hibernation.

Woodchucks will double their mass in the fall in preparation for hibernation. Hyperphagia basically means eating like a teenager...everything in sight! Woodchucks are true hibernators and will dramatically slow their heart rates down from around 100 beats per minute down to 4 or 5 beats per minute. They also bring their body temperatures from around 38 degrees Celsius down to barely above ambient temperature all the way down to within a few degrees above freezing. This combination dramatically reduces their metabolism allowing them to stay hibernating from October until February.

Answer: Its from an Algonquian name.

Woodchuck actually comes from the Algonquian word "wucack" which means "digger". Truly, they love to dig. Woodchucks will dig massive burrows with multiple entrances and a few galleries for living. One gallery is specifically dedicated to bodily waste! Woodchucks will work cooperatively to build a complex burrow, especially for the mating month.

They often will build a separate burrow for when they are ready to hibernate and will line the sleeping gallery with leaves and other soft items.

Answer: House cat

A house cat might be able to catch a baby chuckling, but a full-grown woodchuck is too large and skilled at defending itself. Dogs, badgers, and foxes, on the other hand, can capture and kill a woodchuck. Raptors, like owls and hawks, can also prey on the young but won't usually go after an adult. The adult typically does not stray far from its burrow with multiple exits, and it also can climb trees like a squirrel or swim to escape predators.

Answer: Clovers and dandelions

Woodchucks love to eat clover and dandelions! They also can be quite a nuisance for farmers as they will eat all kinds of produce, especially cantaloupe. Woodchucks will eat grubs, insects, and snails in preparation for hibernation. They will even eat small birds if they can catch them. They only will eat termites as a last resort and hate the smell of marigolds and columbine.

Answer: A stockpile of food.

Since woodchucks eat perishable food and are true hibernators, they do not stockpile food for the winter. Woodchucks will eat nearly twice their body weight in the fall to prepare for hibernation. They do however have a special room for bodily waste and a separate nest room. Woodchucks also have multiple exits to their nest to give them more than one way out if a predator enters the burrow. One interesting fact is that after a woodchuck no longer has a use for its nest, other animals, like foxes, will make it their home.

Answer: No

Woodchucks would NOT make good pets. Being natural diggers and easily startled, woodchucks would not like being in captivity. Plus they are likely to get out of their habitat and can do some real damage to a home trying to escape the house. Sadly, woodchucks are often considered to be pests as they will forage in a garden and might even dig their burrow under a house making it unstable. They can also chew through power lines.