Groundhogs, also known as woodchucks (Marmota monax), are rodents belonging to the squirrel family (Sciuridae) and are the largest member of the squirrel family. These animals are common throughout North America, including Indiana. They are known for their burrowing habits and their role in Groundhog Day lore, but what exactly do groundhogs eat?
General Characteristics of Groundhogs
Before diving into their dietary habits, it's helpful to understand some general characteristics of groundhogs.
Physical Attributes
Groundhogs typically weigh between 7 and 14 pounds and measure around 25 inches in length, including their tail. Their fur ranges in color from yellowish-brown to black. They have short legs, a bushy tail, short, powerful limbs, and thick claws, all of which are well-suited for digging. Other distinguishing features include small ears and black eyes. Males are generally larger than females. The average lifespan of a groundhog in the wild is about 3 years.
Behavioral Traits
Groundhogs are diurnal, meaning they are most active during the day, especially around dawn and dusk. They hibernate throughout the winter in underground burrows, usually dug on land with a slight slope, beginning in October or November and emerging in mid to late-February. They are not fast runners but will defend themselves when threatened if they cannot escape. They will make noise with their incisors and use short, sharp whistles to warn other woodchucks of danger. Groundhogs defecate in toilet chambers dug underground.
Distribution and Habitat
Woodchucks are found statewide in a variety of habitats. They prefer meadows, pastures, crop fields, and yards that are close to a woods edge. They are common in brushy or weedy areas along fence rows or road right-of-ways. Winter burrows are usually in wooded areas, whereas summer burrows are found near grassy or agricultural fields where food is available, sometimes under a barn. It is common for a woodchuck to have more than one summer burrow and make multiple entrances. Woodchucks are territorial, except during the breeding season, and will defend their burrows against intruders.
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Reproduction
Woodchucks breed in late February or March and usually not until the animal is close to two years old. The gestation period is 31-32 days. Four to five young are born in April or May. A woodchuck will give birth to only one litter per year. The young will start to find their own territory when they are just a few months old.
Food Habits: What Groundhogs Eat
Groundhogs are omnivores, with the majority of their diet consisting of plant matter. An adult woodchuck can eat more than a pound of vegetation each day. They are generalist herbivores, consuming a wide variety of greens and vegetables depending on what is available at that time of year.
Common Foods
The most common foods in a groundhog's diet include:
- Grasses
- Ferns
- Leaves of bushes
- Fruit
- Bark and small branches
- Greens like lettuce, alfalfa, clovers, dandelions, daisies, red mulberry and hackberry leaves
- Trees (specifically bark and twigs) like black cherry and dogwood
- Vegetation like carrots, celery, corn, peas, and beans
- Fruits like berries, cherries and apples
- In early spring, dandelion and coltsfoot are important groundhog food items. Some additional foods include sheep sorrel, timothy-grass, buttercup, persicaria, agrimony, red and black raspberries, mulberries, buckwheat, plantain, wild lettuce, alfalfa, and all varieties of clover.
Occasional Foods
While primarily herbivores, groundhogs will occasionally supplement their diet with:
- Insects
- Eggs
- Young birds
- June bugs, snails and grasshoppers
- Some carrion
Water Intake
Groundhogs get most of their hydration needs from dew on the plants they are eating, as well as from the plants themselves, but might also hit up open water if it’s available. Groundhogs can allow their core body temperature to fluctuate somewhat to synchronize with ambient temperatures, supposedly to conserve water and energy when times get rough.
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Seasonal Eating Patterns
Groundhogs have distinct eating patterns that vary depending on the season. During the spring and fall, groundhogs eat during the mid-afternoon. They forage through gardens in the mornings and late afternoons during the summer. During this time, they build up fat reserves during the year to sustain them during their hibernation period from October to February, losing half of their body weight. As they near the end of hibernation in February, groundhogs are ready to start feeding again.
Groundhog Diet and Property Damage
Groundhogs' food habits and burrowing behavior can sometimes lead to conflicts with humans, particularly in gardens and agricultural settings.
Signs of Groundhogs
Signs of groundhogs on your property can include missing crops or plants that have been sharply cut at an angle. Since groundhogs can eliminate entire areas of plants, excess weeds in these areas can also indicate groundhog habitation on your property.
Property Damage Caused by Groundhogs
The claws on the front feet of groundhogs are ideal for digging tunnels/burrows. These burrows can pose problems for your property, especially if they’re near your home. In some cases, the openings of burrows can be 10-12 inches in diameter and can be a hazard (e.g., twisted ankle, broken leg, etc.) if a person and/or animal unknowingly steps in these areas of excavated soil. Burrows can extend as far as 66 feet wide and 5 feet deep. Rain water can trickle into burrows and potentially damage your foundation over time. Although groundhogs typically feed on plants, they may also gnaw at electrical wires, irrigation systems, and hoses as they burrow underground. These issues can cause serious damage and complications to your property. Groundhogs can also create openings with no mound to help them escape from predators, making them difficult to identify.
Management and Control
When groundhogs start causing problems, there are several ways to manage and control them.
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Preventative Measures
To prevent a groundhog from eating your shrubs or plants in your garden, install a fence around it that is at least 3 feet high, made of heavy poultry wire or 2-inch mesh woven wire, and staked at a 45-degree angle. You must also bury the wire 10-12 inches below ground to prevent them from digging underneath. An electric wire fence placed 4-5 inches above ground outside the fence will also discourage climbing and digging underneath the fence. Scarecrows can provide temporary relief, but they must be moved around regularly and in conjunction with a high amount of dog or human presence to scare them away.
Removal Methods
Groundhogs can be live-trapped using a cage trap baited with apples. You do not need a permit to trap a woodchuck, but you must have permission from a landowner or property manager to release a woodchuck on their property. Shooting, where legal, can also be an effective method or reducing or maintaining a low population of groundhogs. Trained pest control technicians can help identify suspected groundhog burrows and help provide a solution.
Groundhogs and Their Ecosystem
Groundhogs play a role in their ecosystem. Very often, the dens of groundhogs provide homes for other animals, including skunks, red foxes, and cottontail rabbits. Foxes and skunks feed upon field mice, grasshoppers, beetles, and other creatures that destroy farm crops. In aiding these animals, the groundhog indirectly helps the farmer. In addition to providing homes for itself and other animals, the groundhog aids in soil improvement by bringing subsoil to the surface. Abandoned groundhog burrows benefit many other species by providing shelter.
Other Interesting Facts About Groundhogs
Solitary Nature
Groundhogs are considered one of the most solitary of the marmot species. They live in aggregations, and their social organization also varies across populations. Groundhogs do not form stable, long-term pair bonds, and during mating season male-female interactions are limited to copulation.
Predators
Wild predators of adult groundhogs in most of eastern North America include coyotes, badgers, bobcats, and foxes (largely red fox). Many of these predators are successful stealth stalkers that catch groundhogs by surprise before they can escape to their burrows; badgers likely hunt them by digging them out from their burrows. Large predators such as the gray wolf and eastern cougar are likely extirpated in the east but still may hunt groundhogs on occasion in Canada. Golden eagles can also prey on adult groundhogs, but seldom occur in the same range or in the same habitats as this marmot. Young groundhogs (usually those less than a couple months in age) may also be taken by the American mink, and perhaps other small mustelids, cats, timber rattlesnakes, and hawks.
Groundhog Day
In the United States and Canada, the yearly Groundhog Day celebration on February 2 has given the groundhog recognition and popularity. The most popularly known of these groundhogs are Punxsutawney Phil, Buckeye Chuck, Wiarton Willie, Shubenacadie Sam, Jimmy the Groundhog, Dunkirk Dave, and Staten Island Chuck kept as part of Groundhog Day festivities in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania; Cleveland, Ohio; Wiarton, Ontario; Sun Prairie, Wisconsin; Dunkirk, New York; and Staten Island respectively. The 1993 comedy film Groundhog Day references several events related to Groundhog Day, and portrays both Punxsutawney Phil himself, and the annual Groundhog Day ceremony.
Medical Research
Groundhogs are used in medical research on hepatitis B-induced liver cancer. A percentage of the woodchuck population is infected with the woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV), which is similar to human hepatitis B virus. Humans cannot contract hepatitis from woodchucks with WHV, but the virus and its effects on the liver make the woodchuck the best available animal for the study of viral hepatitis in humans.