Groundhogs


Groundhogs Marmota monax, are quite literally everywhere these days. If you have ever been to Ottawa, you probably will have seen a great number of them, along the roadside, in fields, and in gardens. There was one here this summer that was in great danger of becoming stew when it made a lunch of a favourite plant of my grandmama's. There is, of course, a reason for this. We, as humans, tend to remake the landscape to fit our needs, rather than changing ourselves to fit the landscape. This often has a detrimental effect on the wildlife, but not always. Some things, such as groundhogs, thrive in this environment. They like lots of grass and clover, and as few predators as possible, conditions that Ottawa is able to provide. I've not been seeing many lately.....I imagine they're all hiding until spring, although I have certainly been wrong in the past, and I wouldn;t be suprised to find I was wrong once again...these things happen, afterall.


Interestingly enough, I have discovered that the Groundhog has a number of other names, which are not as commonly used, but are quite charming. everybody, of course, knows about it being called the woodchuck, thanks to the tonguetwister. However, I've never heard it called land beaver, or the whistlepig. I think I will make it my mission to spread the use of the name Whistlepig to refer to groundhogs, as it's a much more entertaining name.


Personally, I would like to see the huge numbers of groundhogs lead to a growing raptor population. You can't have too many hawks or owls, I think. That, of course, is just me.