Does a hedgehog count?Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard Wood.chuck (chuk') - A common burrowing rodent (marmot marmot, ground-living rodent of the genus Marmota, of the squirrel family, closely related to the ground squirrel, prairie dog, and chipmunk. Marmots are found in Eurasia and North America; the best-known North American marmot is the woodchuck, M. monax) of northern and eastern North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , having short-legged, heavy-set body and grizzled griz·zled adj. 1. Partly gray or streaked with gray: a grizzled beard. 2. Having fur or hair streaked or tipped with gray. brownish fur. Also called groundhog; also called regionally whistle pig whistle pig n. Appalachian Mountains See woodchuck. See Regional Note at woodchuck. - The American Heritage American Heritage can refer to:
We dug and we dug and we dug, but no groundhog. We dug and we dug and we dug, but no groundhog. We dug and we ... If you've seen the movie "Groundhog Day," you know where that was going. If you haven't, well, the repetition is still a good way to explain our search for today's honored rodent. Today is Groundhog Day, and if you got up this morning and turned on the TV, you might already know whether Puxatawny Phil crawled from the Pennsylvania ground and saw his shadow at approximately 4:25 a.m. Pacific Time, indicating six more weeks of winter. But here in Lane County, all Pine Cone the hedgehog did Wednesday was relieve herself on the counter at Zany Zoo Pets on West 11th Avenue. That's where Patty Rushford, a clerk at the store, comes in, armed with a paper towel. Such is the curse of a pet-store employee. And, no, Pine Cone did not see her shadow - as far as we know - because Wednesday's glorious morning sunshine was gone by the time we arrived in the afternoon. Groundhogs are native to Canada and the eastern and midwestern United States. That largely explains why we could not find one on Wednesday. But we thought someone might have imported one, you know. "No," said a man named Johnny who answered the phone at McKenzie Animal Hospital in Springfield, when asked if they had a groundhog we could visit. "But I might have a cute little `Yorkie' you could dress up as a groundhog." No thanks. "I could go out and shoot a gopher," said a woman named Margaret, poking fun at our question as she answered the phone at Animal Health Associates in Eugene. That might not be such a great idea. ``We don't have one at the moment, but let me look up on the board and see if there's one for adoption,'' said a woman who answered the phone at Eugene's City Center Cat & Bird Clinic. "Nope," she said. ``But you might try Greenhill (Humane Society).'' They were closed Wednesday. "I'd rather have a skunk skunk, name for several related New World mammals of the weasel family, characterized by their conspicuous black and white markings and use of a strong, highly offensive odor for defense. than a groundhog," said Pat Patterson of the Lane County Extension Service, when we called to inquire about groundhogs. Why is that? "Because they bite," she said. "And they carry bubonic plague bubonic plague: see plague. bubonic plague ravages Oran, Algeria, where Dr. Rieux perseveres in his humanitarian endeavors. [Fr. Lit.: The Plague] See : Disease . Or is it pneumonic plague pneumonic plague n. A frequently fatal form of bubonic plague in which the lungs are infected and the disease is transmissible by coughing. ?" Neither sound like much fun. Although she knew of no one locally who had a groundhog, nor had she ever seen one around, Patterson speculated that someone in Oregon must surely have one. "People in Oregon have almost anything as a pet," she said. "Mountain lions, bear cubs, groundhogs, hedgehogs ...'' But did you know this? Did you know that a groundhog and a woodchuck woodchuck or groundhog, common name of a North American species of marmot, Marmota monax. This large rodent is found in open woods and ravines throughout most of Canada and the NE United States. are the same thing? And how much ground could a groundhog hog if a groundhog could hog ground? Yes, groundhogs are woodchucks and woodchucks are groundhogs and they're one in the same and they're marmots. And what the heck is a marmot? "Any of various stocky, coarse-furred, burrowing rodents of the genus Marmota, having short legs and ears and short bushy bush·y adj. bush·i·er, bush·i·est 1. Overgrown with bushes. 2. Thick and shaggy: a bushy head of hair. tails and found throughout the Northern Hemisphere," according to the American Heritage Dictionary. Groundhogs are also known in the Appalachian Mountains as "whistle pigs," because of the sound they make. The term "groundhog" goes back as far as the 1740s, according to the Web site, answers.com. It might be a translation from the Dutch word, aardvarken, meaning "earth pig," or it might have just been inspired by the observation "that this pudgy rodent burrows in the ground," the explanation says. A hedgehog, however, is not a marmot. It's an insectivorous insectivorous eating insects to the extent that they are significant as a contributor to the patient's diet. mammal native to Africa and very similar to a porcupine porcupine, in zoology porcupine, member of either of two rodent families, characterized by having some of its hairs modified as bristles, spines, or quills. in appearance, with its dense erectile spines sprouting out from its back. A hedgehog is also a well-fortified military position, but that's another story. Pine Cone is one of eight hedgehogs at Zany Zoo Pets. Someone brought her in a while back and donated her to the store, said Abbie McClain, who owns the store with her husband, Nathan. But, no, a hedgehog won't do today. Still Rushford, the store clerk, tried to be helpful: ``Couldn't you just pretend that a big fat guinea pig guinea pig (gĭn`ē), domesticated form of the cavy, Cavia porcellus, a South American rodent. It is unrelated to the pig; the name may refer to its shrill squeal. is a groundhog?'' CAPTION(S): With no groundhog handy, Abbie McClain, co-owner of Zany Zoo Pets, gives Pine Cone the hedgehog a chance to see her shadow. G r o u n d h o g D a y |
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