Eight Things You Didn’t Know About Groundhogs | The Thoughtful Animal, Scientific American Blog Network
1. A groundhog by any other name.
Groundhogs are also variously referred to as woodchucks, whistle-pigs, land-beavers, or marmots.
The name whistle-pig comes from the fact that, when alarmed, a groundhog will emit a high-pitched whistle as a warning to the rest of his or her colony.
The name woodchuck has nothing to do with wood.
Or chucking.
It is derived from the Algonquian name for the critters, wuchak.
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