October 4, 2009 - Chubby Chucks

Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

Although some people are stacking firewood for the winter months, woodchucks don’t have time to chuck wood. They are too busy trying to get fat. A woodchuck’s reverse diet usually doubles their summer weight. After six months of grazing these large rodents can weigh a hefty ten pounds. With only about a month left before hibernation time, groundhogs are eating their lives away. Without the proper fat reserve woodchucks will not be chubby enough to waddle into their underground burrows to sleep through the cold days of winter. Woodchucks are considered true hibernators and as such they do not eat during hibernation. Instead, they depend on fat reserves to provide the necessary energy for maintaining minimal body functions. Without enough fat, a groundhog won’t survive the winter. Young-of-the-year chucks are the last to fatten up and enter their winter dens.
 
This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.