Animal Tales: Hail the lowly groundhog

Of America's many holidays, and despite the association of Thanksgiving with the turkey, only one truly celebrates an animal -- the groundhog, so named because it burrows underground and lives in dens.

Since the first official visit to Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., by the groundhog -- soon named "Punxsutawney Phil" -- in 1887, people have focused on the marmot's antics on Groundhog Day every Feb. 2.

However, the emergence of the groundhog -- also known as a woodchuck -- presumably to look for its shadow as a predictor of spring, probably was a misunderstanding.

Stam M. Zervanos, associate professor of biology, at Pennsylvania State Berks-Lehigh Valley College in Reading, Pa., said his research indicates the groundhog has a very good reason to come out on Feb. 2 -- and it has nothing to do with the weather.

"He's looking for females," Zervanos told UPI's Animal Tales. "Groundhogs have a very limited window of opportunity to mate because they need the time in the spring and summer to gain enough weight to survive the winter."

All animals who hibernate have periods where they awaken and fall asleep again, but the male groundhog, near the end of the hibernation period, leaves its den and starts setting the groundwork for mating, Zervanos explained.

"They are checking out their territory, the dominant male is checking where the females are located and where any other males are -- we think that they may chase off any competing males in their area," he said.

"We have calculated that the groundhogs, in our area of Pennsylvania, come out for the first time each year after 114 days of hibernation -- year in and year out. For those living south the time would finish sooner and for those further north they would hibernate longer."

Groundhogs do not make close families. After mating, the male leaves and the female raises the children on her own. Each groundhog hibernates in a den of its own that contains several chambers. The groundhog is a tidy animal that keeps its den clean by wiping its feet before entering and digging a separate chamber for excrement.

Zervanos said in early February groundhogs essentially are "dating" and the male is "smoothing things over with the female," but there are no Valentine's Day presents from the males, because there's usually no food available.

During this dating period the male does not get lucky because groundhogs do not mate until hibernation ends, Zervanos said. One year, he observed a male at the entrance of a female's burrow about 300 yards from the male's home burrow. The female emerged and the male stayed with her for two days before moving on to another female's burrow.

"For males, these early excursions are an opportunity to survey their territories and to establish bonds with females," Zervanos said. "For females, it is an opportunity to bond with males and assess food availability."

Afterward, all three groundhogs stayed alone in their burrows hibernating until they awoke in March.

"Because the timing window is so narrow, the very first thing groundhogs do after emerging from hibernation in early March is to mate, and only then, if food is available, do they eat," Zervanos said. "The gestation period for the groundhogs is about one month, so the cubs are born in April or May."

Zervanos, an evolutionary biologist, is studying how male groundhogs gain advantage in surviving and mating, because evolution depends on how successful the next generation is at surviving and mating.

"The timing is important, because if mating occurs too early, the young would be weaned at a time in the spring when food is limited. If mating occurs too late, the young would not have sufficient time to gain their critical hibernation weight," Zervanos said.

"It would appear that the early bonding activity and establishment of territories in preparation for mating ensures optimum conditions and timing for reproduction and offspring survival."

One groundhog that has survived is Punxsutawney Phil. First recorded for checking his shadow in 1887, the marmot has only grown in popularity. Many attribute his fame to the 1908 front-page story in a newspaper that put the world's most famous weather forecaster on the map.

Phil has even inspired fads from time to time -- from a dance in the 1920s to the limited edition of 5,000 Punxsutawney Phil® Beanie Baby® dolls, the first batch of which sold out in one hour on Jan. 8, even though it was only available in the souvenir shop of the Punxsutawney Area Chamber of Commerce.

Through the years, Phil has been highlighted in each mass media innovation of the 20th century. The first film of the groundhog checking his shadow was made in 1916. In 1928, Groundhog Day festivities were covered by KDKA radio in Pittsburgh.

In 1952, Phil made his first national television appearance on NBC's "Today Show" with Dave Garroway. Mirroring the space race between the United States and the former Soviet Union, Phil prepared for blast-off in his own "Chucknik" spacecraft in 1958. It was reported he made it to the moon and back successfully -- twice.

The town of Punxsutawney, about a 2 1/2-hour drive northeast of Pittsburgh, is excited that for the first time a sitting governor, Ed Rendell, will participate in Groundhog Day events Sunday. Phil has been entertained by even loftier company, having visited President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1986.

In 1987, Punxsutawney Phil celebrated his 100th anniversary, but it was the movie "Groundhog Day," starring Bill Murray, that made Phil an international star.

Until the movie, the Groundhog Day crowds in Punxsutawney -- population 6,500 -- averaged about 10,000. But after the movie, the crowd swelled to 30,000 and got even larger after Phil appeared on "Oprah" in 1996 -- the same year he opened his own Web site: punxsutawneyphil.com.

"Phil does not hibernate, he lives in the warm zoo with several other groundhogs, because he has numerous personal appearances such as the recent inaugural parade of the new governor," Bill Deeley, Phil's handler, told UPI's Animal Tales.

"People can see Phil at the zoo 365 days a year," Deeley said. "He has the lifestyle of a typical college student, he sleeps a lot and eats a lot."

According to the Web site Groundhog.com, the holiday tradition stems from beliefs associated with Candlemas Day. Centuries ago, the clergy in Europe blessed candles and the people lit them in their windows on Feb. 2 -- the halfway point between winter and spring.

As an old English song goes: "If Candlemas be fair and bright, Come, Winter, have another flight; If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, Go Winter, and come not again."

Deeley said the Pennsylvania Dutch bought the Candlemas tradition with them to the New World. "In Europe they looked to hedgehogs checking their shadow, but there are less of them here, so they changed it to the more plentiful Pennsylvania groundhogs," he added.

"But basically, it's a time of endless winter and cabin fever and with some help of corn liquor our ancestors looked for an excuse to blow off some stream on Groundhog Day," he said.

Deeley said about 36,000 people are expected in Punxsutawney this weekend. They come for the same reason they did more than 100 years ago -- a warm and fuzzy diversion from winter and everything else that's going on in the world.