Woodchuck, Hinterland Who's Who

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Woodchuck, Hinterland Who's Who
Canadian Wildlife Service & Canadian Wildlife Federation

Woodchuck

This animal
* is sometimes completely black or completely white
* is one of Canada’s largest true hibernators and the subject of a great deal of medical research
* spends much of its time eating and sunning when not hibernating or caring for young
* is the major hole-digging mammal over much of eastern North America, and in some places in the west, providing all sorts of animals with shelter

Description
The woodchuck Marmota monax—sometimes called groundhog—is a rodent and belongs to the large group of mammals Rodentia, which includes squirrels, prairie dogs, and chipmunks. Within this large group the woodchuck is considered one of the marmots.

Among North American rodents, only beavers and porcupines are larger than the marmots. Woodchucks are stocky little animals with a flattened head. They commonly weigh 2 to 4 kg, and large ones may be heavier in the autumn. They measure 40 to 65 cm total length, including a short bushy tail about 15 cm long. Fur colour varies from place to place and between individual animals. It ranges from yellowish to dark reddish brown, with an intermediate brown colour being the most common shade. The fur is usually grizzled in appearance because of light-coloured tips on the hairs. The belly fur is commonly straw-coloured and the feet black.

Woodchucks are occasionally found with melanistic or albino fur. The fur of melanistic specimens is completely black. Albinos, on the other hand, have no colour in their fur at all, and even their eyes lack pigmentation, merely showing a pinkish tinge from blood vessels near the surface. Being white, they are conspicuous, and usually fall easily to predators.

Because woodchucks are burrowing mammals, their feet have sturdy claws and their legs are thick and strong. Their forefeet, the principal ones used for digging, each have four well developed claws, and the hind feet have five. They escape from enemies by diving into burrows, which may account for the fact that their top running speed does not exceed 15 km per hour.


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