### animal | vertebrate | mammal | rodent | marmot:

Groundhog
* All groundhogs hibernate at wintertime.
  * The 'Groundhog' rodent. It is also called a woodchuck. It belongs to the group of ground squirrels. Those squirrels are also known as marmots. The animal may also be called 'Woodchuck', or 'Whistlepig'. Groundhogs dig tunnels and live underground. Every single hole, may have tunnels which lead to as many as ten other holes, the tunnels are very large and can have chambers, like rooms, in them. Groundhogs can make their homes under trees, around buildings and in open fields.
* are a burrowing animal
  - able to mate and have offspring when they are one year old
* are also abundant and commonly recognized
  - warm blooded
  - at their maximum weight before entering hibernation
  - bands
  - destructive and prolific animals
  - easy to trap
* are excellent burrowers, using burrows for sleeping, rearing young, and hibernating
  - diggers, constructing a burrow with a main entrance and an escape tunnel
  - great diggers with curved thick claws
  - herbivores and eat leaves, clover, flower stems, tree bark and berries
  - mostly herbivorous
  - nervouw and run to their burrows when there is danger
  - one of the few animals to truly hibernate
  - really exclusively herbivores
  - rodents and primarily eat healthy vegetables and salad items
  - small animals
  - solitary and herbivorous animals
* are the largest members of the squirrel family
  - species in the squirrel family
  - more solitary then other marmots
  - well adapted for digging, with short but powerful limbs and curved, thick claws
  - woodchucks
* belong to the same order as beavers and rats.
* can be a major problem as they feed on canola
  - menace to homeowners with gardens
* continue to be a major problem in many soybean fields.
* create tunnels for sleeping, living, protection and hibernating.
* eat a broad variety of vegetation, and especially favor domestic legumes
  - green vegetation
* generally live alone.
* get their name because for the most part, they travel on land.
* have an incredible sense of hearing and smell
  - chisel-like incisor teeth that enable the animal to gnaw well
  - winter and summer burrows
* hibernate one to a burrow, with at least two doorways
  - over the winter
* line their home with grasses and leaves.
* live in burrows underground and are hibernating mammals
  - open fields, open woods, valleys and plains
* retreat to their burrows when danger is spotted.
* tend to hibernate in burrows.
* usually have two separate dens.

### animal | vertebrate | mammal | rodent | marmot:

Hoary marmot
* Most hoary marmots feed on grass.
* Most hoary marmots have dark brown feet
* appear to drink almost daily and they have frequently been observed eating snow.
* are active about four and a half months each year
  - diurnal and herbivorous , subsisting on leaves, flowers, grasses, and sedges
  - mammals
* have cinnamon or brown heads and necks, with white edges around their noses and lips
* live in high mountains near timberline, alpine meadows, and talus slopes
  - loose colonies, taking advantage of their neighbors' watchfulness
* populate mountainous areas, and woodchucks are found in the lower open woodlands.
* reach sexual maturity at two years of age.

Olympic marmot
* are diurnal and terrestrial animals.
* eat herbs, grasses, and flowers.
* identify each other by touching noses and smelling of cheeks.

Vancouver island marmot
* have ranges.
* live in burrows
  - underground burrows