---
title: "Groundhog (Marmota monax) | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "The largest marmot in its range, a tunnelling rodent that sleeps through the winter and warns its neighbours with a shrill whistle."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/groundhog-1.webp"
published: "2026-10-10"
updated: "2026-10-11"
---
# Groundhog (*Marmota monax*)
> **Status**: Checked against 3 sources, listed under Sources below.
> **Tagline**: The largest marmot in its range, a tunnelling rodent that sleeps through the winter and warns its neighbours with a shrill whistle.
> **Soundtrack Vibe**: Desert Americana & Cinematic Rock // Ennio Morricone, "Titoli"
> **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/2D00iMHVD8eFh5a9K2eQz7)
> **Vibe Match**: A threatened groundhog gives a shrill whistle that also warns other groundhogs, which is why it is called the whistlepig. The main theme of A Fistful of Dollars opens on a whistled hook.
## Biological Superpowers & Stats
- **Taxonomy**: *Marmota monax*
- **Danger Level**: Low
- **Conservation Status**: Least Concern ([IUCN Red List](https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2016-3.rlts.t42458a22257685.en))
- **Superpower**: Digs tunnel networks up to 30 feet long, with separate chambers for hibernation
- **Habitat**: Open clearings, woodland edges, roadsides, fields and stream banks across much of Canada and the eastern United States
- **Diet**: Plants such as clover, berries, corn and apples, and occasionally bird eggs, insects and snails
- **Tags**: mammal, rodent, burrower, herbivore, woodland, meadow
## Natural History & Behavior
## Built to dig
The groundhog is the largest marmot in its range. It weighs 5 to 15 pounds and measures 16 to 26 inches long. It belongs to the squirrel family, and you can find it across much of Canada and the eastern United States.
Its tools are long, curved claws and strong limbs. With them it digs tunnel networks that can reach 4 to 5 feet down and up to 30 feet in length. A burrow often has several entrances and separate chambers for hibernation, which is deep winter sleep. Once abandoned, these burrows give shelter and breeding space to many other animals, including rabbits, raccoons, foxes, river otters and snakes.
Like all rodents, it has big front teeth, called incisors, that grow continuously. Grazing and gnawing through roots wear them down.
> **Tidy tunnels**
> Groundhogs are surprisingly sanitary, even dedicating separate chambers for defecation.
## Eat now, sleep later
In summer, a groundhog can eat up to 1.5 pounds of plants a day. That adds 11.5 to 20 grams of body weight daily, depending on sex and age. In spring it favours clover, and later in the growing season it seeks out berries, corn, tomatoes, alfalfa and apples from fields and gardens. It will occasionally eat bird eggs, beetles, snails and grasshoppers.
Hibernation starts in October or November. Both sexes wake briefly in February, when males claim territories and look for females. They go back to sleep and finally emerge in March. A female has one litter of 2 to 6 young a year. The kits are born blind and hairless. After about 2 months of care they leave to find their own territories.
## The whistle pig
A threatened groundhog often defends itself with its teeth and gives a shrill whistle. The whistle also warns other groundhogs, especially juveniles. To avoid predators it climbs trees and stops to look up while feeding. Groundhogs are prey for coyotes, bobcats, eagles, hawks, owls and weasels.
In the wild a groundhog lives 4 to 6 years on average. The Red List rates it Least Concern.
## A lab partner
Groundhogs are the best non-human model for studying hepatitis B, a virus that damages the human liver. They can be infected with a similar disease called woodchuck hepatitis virus. Studying infected groundhogs helps researchers understand the virus and develop new treatments for people with hepatitis B.
## Frequently Asked Questions
### Is a woodchuck the same animal as a groundhog?
Yes. Both names, plus whistlepig and land beaver, belong to *Marmota monax*. "Woodchuck" comes from a Native American word, which one account translates roughly as "the digger". *(Source: [Kerwin & Maslo]())*
### How long does a groundhog live?
Wild groundhogs average 4 to 6 years, but predators and disease mean many do not live past age 3. *(Source: [Tobias]())*
### Do groundhogs really predict spring?
It is a legend. German migrants brought the tradition to Pennsylvania in the mid-1800s, and in Europe the animal was originally a badger or a hedgehog. One account suggests the legend began because groundhogs often go back into hibernation after leaving their dens too early. *(Source: [Kerwin & Maslo]())*
## Sources
1. [Cassola (2016). Marmota monax. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T42458A115189992.]()
2. [Kerwin & Maslo. Ecology and Management of the Groundhog (Marmota monax). Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.]()
3. [Tobias. Marmota monax (woodchuck). Animal Diversity Web.]()
*Published October 10, 2026. Last updated October 11, 2026.*
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