Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2019 - 9

C R E AT U R E F E AT U R E

Groundhog Day
For these pudgy prognosticators, February 2 is more like Valentine's Day.

By NANCY HENDERSON

while back, a woman from Florida called Justin McVey to discuss an animal issue. "I just
love the Asheville area," she told the former
zookeeper who is now a wildlife biologist at
the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. "I love driving up in the middle of
summer and seeing all those little baby bears."
McVey was puzzled. "Baby bears?"
"Yeah," she said. "There are bears
all along the roadway and they're
just sticking their heads up."
"It took me a minute," says
McVey, chuckling at the recollection. "But I finally realized she
thought the groundhogs by the
highway were baby bears."
This isn't the only misconception
about groundhogs, a.k.a. whistle
pigs or woodchucks, especially this
time of year. Despite our high expectations of Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil or Georgia's General
Beauregard Lee on February 2, the
burrowing marmots don't emerge
that day just for our amusement.
Groundhog Day actually traces
its roots to the ancient Christian tradition of Candlemas, when clergy blessed candles for winter. The Germans later tweaked the concept and chose an
animal-the hedgehog-as a mascot for weather forecasting. Because hedgehogs aren't native to North America,
German settlers switched to groundhogs when they arrived in Pennsylvania, and Punxsutawney residents celebrated the first Groundhog Day in 1887. Legend has it
that if the groundhog sees its shadow, there will be
six more weeks of winter. If it doesn't, we can expect an early spring.
But the real reason the critters are often
spotted in early February is that they're
starting to come out of deep hibernation
to scout for mates.
"They're not necessarily selective, at
least the males aren't," says McVey.
"But they kind of look around in

their territory, looking for available females in that area.
They're not quite ready to breed, so that would kind of explain why the breeding doesn't occur right away. It takes
a month or so."
In April, about a month after mating takes place, the
groundhogs give birth to four to six little ones. "It's a good
time to have young," McVey notes. "There's lot of food
becoming available, and one of the driving factors, of
course, is that the weather is nicer."
The reason the Florida caller routinely spotted "bears" on her treks
through western North Carolina
is probably because the region is a
prime spot for groundhogs.
"The range is the Blue Ridge
Mountain portion and the northern counties of North Carolina,"
McVey says. "Now we're starting to
see some in Mecklenburg County
and beyond, but toward Wilmington, we just don't have groundhogs
down there."
Preferred habitat includes pastures, wooded lots and, yes, roadsides, especially those with an abundance of grass and clover.
Many southeastern cities and
towns boast their own version of Punxsutawney Phil.
Sadly, Nibbles, the longtime four-legged forecaster at the
Western North Carolina Nature Center who was sometimes aided by celebrities like actress Andie MacDowell,
died in 2016 of old age.
Despite the animals' propensity for burrowing,
sometimes in suburban yards, McVey says they are not
aggressive. To protect gardens, he recommends "creative" fencing buried
a couple of inches below ground in
an L shape and extending three or
four feet above the surface. In the
wild, he says, "They're going to
scurry off [if they see humans].
It's just like any other wildlife.
You need to observe it from a
distance."

The real reason
the critters are
often spotted in
early February
is that they're
coming out of
hibernation.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019

Blue Ridge Country - January/February 2019

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