🦫 Groundhog

Woodchuck. A giant ground squirrel with heavy digging claws and a big burrow.

2–2.5 in long. Four toes front, five hind. Strong claw marks. Prints lead to a burrow with a dirt mound. Waddling, wide-bodied trail.

Field edges, hedgerows, road banks, gardens. Eastern and central North America into Alaska.

Diurnal

Grasses, clover, garden vegetables

Groundhogs are true hibernators — heart rate drops to about five beats a minute.