[3] It was given its scientific name as Mus monax by Carl Linnaeus in 1758,[4] based on a description of the animal by George Edwards, published in 1743.

[5] The groundhog plays an important role maintaining healthy soil in woodlands and plains; as such, the species is considered a crucial habitat engineer.

[29] Despite their heavy-bodied appearance, groundhogs are accomplished swimmers and occasionally climb trees when escaping predators or when they want to survey their surroundings.

Alternatively, upright play-fighting may be a part of the woodchuck's behavioral repertoire that rarely is shown because of physical spacing and/or low social tolerance.

[34]: 97 Mostly herbivorous, groundhogs eat primarily wild grasses and other vegetation, including berries, bark, leaves, and agricultural crops, when available.

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.

[37] In early June, woodchucks' metabolism slows, and while their food intake decreases, their weight increases by as much as 100% as they produce fat deposits to sustain them during hibernation and late winter.

[39] Thought not to drink water, groundhogs are reported to obtain needed liquids from the juices of edible plants, aided by their sprinkling with rain or dew.

Burrows can pose a serious threat to agricultural and residential development by damaging farm machinery and even undermining building foundations.

[citation needed] The burrow is used for safety, retreat in bad weather, hibernating, sleeping, mating, and nursery.

[42][43] Bachman mentioned when young groundhogs are a few months old, they prepare for separation, digging a number of holes in the area of their early home.

Some of these holes were only a few feet deep and never occupied, but the numerous burrows gave the impression that groundhogs live in communities.

They are used by cottontail rabbits, raccoons, foxes, river otters, eastern chipmunks, and a wide variety of small mammals, snakes, and birds.

This burrow is usually in a wooded or brushy area and is dug below the frost line and remains at a stable temperature well above freezing during the winter months.

[51] They emerge from hibernation with some remaining body fat to live on until the warmer spring weather produces abundant plant materials for food.

Groundhogs do not form stable, long-term pair-bonds, and during mating season male-female interactions are limited to copulation.

[58]: 124  Jackson (1961) suggested that exaggerated reports of damage done by the woodchuck led to excessive culling, substantially reducing its numbers in the state.

[64][65][66][67][68][69] Large predators such as gray wolf and eastern cougar are likely extirpated in the east but still may hunt groundhogs on occasion in Canada.

Likewise, great horned owls can reportedly, per Bent (1938), prey upon groundhogs but rarely do so, given the temporal differences in their behaviors.

[72][73] 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.

[32] 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 addition to providing homes for itself and other animals, the groundhog aids in soil improvement by bringing subsoil to the surface.

Contemporaneous with the ark, the woodchuck has not made any material progress in social science, and it is now too late to reform the wayward sinner.

Doug Schwartz, a zookeeper and groundhog trainer at the Staten Island Zoo, has been quoted as saying "They're known for their aggression, so you're starting from a hard place.

"[80] Groundhogs cared for in wildlife rehabilitation that survive but cannot be returned to the wild may remain with their caregivers and become educational ambassadors.

Famous Southern groundhogs include General Beauregard Lee, based at Dauset Trails Nature Center outside Atlanta, Georgia.

[86] Researching the hibernation patterns of groundhogs may lead to benefits for humans, including lowering of the heart rate in complicated surgical procedures.

They favor the loose soil of the esker at the site lies, and their burrow digging has brought many objects to the surface: human and animal bones, pottery, and bits of stone.

[58]: 124 Robert Frost's poem "A Drumlin Woodchuck" uses the imagery of a groundhog dug into a small ridge as a metaphor for his emotional reticence.