Species of mammal (rodent in the marmot genus)
"Whistle Pig" redirects here. For the whiskey distillery, see
WhistlePig .
The groundhog (Marmota monax ), also known as the woodchuck , is a rodent of the family Sciuridae , belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots .[ 2]
A lowland creature of North America, it is found through much of the Eastern United States , across Canada and into Alaska .[ 3]
It was first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.[ 4]
The groundhog plays an important role maintaining healthy soil in woodlands and plains ; as such, the species is considered a crucial habitat engineer .[ 5] [ 6] [ 7] The groundhog is an extremely intelligent animal, forming complex social networks and capable of understanding social behavior , forming kinship with its young, understanding and communicating threats through whistling , and working cooperatively to solve tasks such as burrowing .[ 8] [ 9]
^ Cassola, F. (2017) [errata version of 2016 assessment]. "Marmota monax " . IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016 : e.T42458A115189992. doi :10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T42458A22257685.en . Retrieved February 19, 2022 .
^ Thorington, R.W. Jr; Hoffman, R.S. (2005). "Family Sciuridae" . In Wilson, D.E. ; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 802. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0 . OCLC 62265494 .
^ "Marmota monax, Woodchuck" . North American Mammals . Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original on March 25, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2018 .
^ Linné, Carl von (1758). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae . Vol. 1 (10 ed.). Impensis Direct. Laurentii Salvii. p. 60. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2018 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
^ Meier, Paul T. (December 1, 1992). "Social organization of woodchucks (Marmota monax)" . Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology . 31 (6): 393–400. doi :10.1007/BF00170606 . S2CID 44244749 . Archived from the original on May 10, 2022. Retrieved May 18, 2021 – via Springer Link.
^ Pustilnik, Jeremy D.; Searle, Jeremy B.; Curtis, Paul D. (2021). "The effects of red fox scent on winter activity patterns of suburban wildlife: evaluating predator-prey interactions and the importance of groundhog burrows in promoting biodiversity" . Urban Ecosystems . 24 (3): 529–547. Bibcode :2021UrbEc..24..529P . doi :10.1007/s11252-020-01056-5 . S2CID 224867974 . Archived from the original on May 10, 2022. Retrieved May 18, 2021 – via Springer Link.
^ Moore, Alexis Lee; Butcher, Michael (May 18, 2011). "Functional specialization in the forelimbs of two digging mammals: the American badger (Taxidea taxus) and groundhog (Marmota monax)" . The FASEB Journal . 25 (S1): 867.12. doi :10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.867.12 . S2CID 87167021 .
^ Maher, Christine R. (2009). "Genetic Relatedness and Space Use in a Behaviorally Flexible Species of Marmot, the Woodchuck (Marmota monax)" (PDF) . Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology . 63 (6): 857–868. doi :10.1007/s00265-009-0726-5 . JSTOR 40295409 . S2CID 20892108 . Archived from the original on May 10, 2022. Retrieved May 29, 2021 .
^ Daniel, Janice C.; Blumstein, Daniel T. (1998). "A test of the acoustic adaptation hypothesis in four species of marmots" (PDF) . Animal Behaviour . 56 (6). Department of Systematics and Ecology, University of Kansas : The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour: 1517–1528. doi :10.1006/anbe.1998.0929 . PMID 9933550 . S2CID 37133587 . Archived (PDF) from the original on June 2, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2021 .