The Woodchuck

from Handbook of Nature-Study for Teachers and Parents
by Anna Botsford Comstock, self-published, copyright 1929

He who knows the ways of the woodchuck can readily guess where it is likely to be found; it loves meadows and pastures where grass or clover lushly grows. It is also fond of garden truck and has a special delectation for melons. The burrow is likely to be situated near a fence or stone heap, which gives easy access to its chosen food. The woodchuck makes its burrow by digging the earth loose with its front feet, and pushing it backward and out of the entrance with the hind feet. This method leaves the soil in a heap near the entrance, from which paths radiate into the grass in all directions. If one undertakes to dig out a woodchuck, one needs to be not only a husky individual, but something of an engineer; the direction of the burrow extends downward for a little way, and then it rises at an easy angle, so that the inmate may be in no danger of flood. The nest is merely an enlargement of the burrow, lined in soft grass, which the woodchucks bring in in their mouths. During the early part of the season, the father and mother and the litter of young may inhabit the same burrow, although there are likely to be at least two separate nests. There is usually more than one back door to the woodchuck’s dwelling, through which it may escape, if pressed too closely by enemies; these back doors differ from the entrance, in that they are usually hidden and have no earth heaped near them.

The woodchuck usually feeds in the morning and again in the evening and is likely to spend the middle of the day resting.It often goes some distance from its burrow to feed, and at short intervals lifts itself upon its hind legs to see if the coast is clear; if assailed it will seek to escape by running to its burrow; and when running, it has a peculiar gait often described as “pouring itself along.” If it reaches its burrow, it at once begins to dig deeply and throw the earth out behind it, thus making a wall to keep the enemy out. When cornered, the Woodchuck is a courageous and fierce fighter; its incisors prove a powerful weapon and it will often whip a dog much larger than itself. Every boy knows how to find whether the woodchuck is in its den or not, by rolling a stone into the burrow and listening; if the animal is at home, the sound of its digging apprises the listener of the fact. In earlier times the woodchuck was much preyed upon by wolves, wildcats and foxes; now only the fox remains and he is fast disappearing, so that at present, the farmer and his dog are about the only enemies this burrower has to contend with. It is a resourceful animal and will climb a tree if attacked by a dog, it will also climb a tree for fruit, like peaches. During the late summer, it is the woodchuck’s business to feed very constantly and become very fat. About the first of October it retires to its den and sleeps until the end of March or April. During this dormant state, the beating of its heart is so faint as to be scarcely perceptible, and very little nourishment is required to keep it alive; this nourishment is supplied by fat stored in its body, which it uses up by March, and comes out of its burrow in the spring, looking giant and lean. The saying that the woodchuck or ground-hog comes out on Candlemas Day and if it is sees its shadow goes back to sleep for six weeks more may savor of meteorological truth but it is certainly not true of the ground-hog.

The full grown woodchuck ordinarily measures about two feet in length. Its color is grizzly or brownish, sometimes blackish in places; the underparts are reddish and the feet black. The fur is rather coarse, thick and tough and seem to fit loosely, a condition which gives the peculiar ‘pouring along” appearance when it is running. The hind legs and feet are longer than those in front. Both pairs of feet are fitted for digging, the front ones being used for loosening the earth and the hind pair for kicking it out of the burrow…

When feeding, the woodchuck often makes a contented grunting noise; when attacked and fighting it growls; and when feeling happy and conversational, it sits up and whistles.