is a woodchuck the same animal as a gopher and a groundhog?
Prairie dogs are in the squirrel family and gophers are not. Gophers have bigger teeth and bigger claws for digging. They have solitary habits, whereas prairie dogs are social animals. The groundhog and woodchuck are the same animal, a marmot - essentially, a giant North American ground squirrel. The gopher is, like the groundhog, a burrowing member of the rodent order but its closest living relatives are kangaroo rats and pocket mice.