Today, of course, is Groundhog Day, and as you may have heard, we’ve got six more weeks of winter in store. Oh, also, if we don’t stop destroying the planet, we’ll starve all the groundhogs to death. Happy Groundhog Day!
Gizmodo asked how climate change might affect the groundhog’s predictive abilities, and while doing that, stumbled over the fact that the little fuzzballs are in deep trouble. Because of their hibernation patterns, they could be killed off one of two ways:
Hibernating species usually experience a period of deep sleep, waking up every few weeks. The groundhogs expend almost all of their fat reserves during these so-called arousal periods. Climate change could mean more arousals, and quicker depletion of the groundhog’s fat. “At a certain point when they go really skinny they may die in hibernation,” said [assistant professor at the University of Groningen Roelof] Hut. “Alternatively, they may decide to emerge early from hibernations. But they’ll emerge skinnier anyway, or die because they’re so skinny.”
It’s a particular problem because groundhogs, unlike the other marmots out there, prefer to eat plants over insects and grubs. So, if one comes out with a rumbly tummy, there might not be much in the way of pickings for it. Of course, it could evolve to eat other plants, or even become more omnivorous. It might even become carnivorous, and suddenly Groundhog Day might take on some far more sinister connotations. Where will you be, the day the groundhogs drag us into their burrows?
(Via Gizmodo)
