Chapter Ten Synopsis of Discussion
Week of September 9, 2007
Chapter 10 – Ground Hog Sees His Shadow
This chapter starts off with an interesting character. Ground Hog has a mean
disposition and no friends. He never gives a thought to his family, including
many children and grandchildren. If he met one of his relatives, he bared his
ugly teeth and tried to get to the vegetables first. What a mean, selfish character.
His habits have made him very unpopular.
Ground Hog is very afraid of his shadow. After a long winter hibernation, he peeks out of his hole to find the snow melting. When he ventures out, he is frozen in his tracks with horror as he sees his shadow beside him on the snow. It looks larger and fiercer than last year. Right beside his shadow stood Miss Hickory. She stood her ground but she was scared to death of Ground Hog. When Ground Hog ran back into his hole, Miss Hickory ran off and tumbled into the midst of the hen-pheasants huddled in their winter home. They gathered around her, surprised to see her frightened and trembling. Miss Hickory related that she had just seen a wild animal as large as the barn cat but with sharp yellow teeth. Hen-Pheasant explained that Miss Hickory had just seen Ground Hog and that he was running from his shadow, which means six more weeks of winter. Hen-Pheasant explained why Ground Hog was so disliked. Miss Hickory explains that Ground Hog steals because there is no food left for him. She informs the hens of the Ladies’ Aid Society that it is their duty as part of this organization to look after others, not just themselves.
A few days later Miss Hickory returns to the hen-pheasants’ winter home. She is on a mission. She has decided that winter has lasted long enough and it’s time to do something about it. Miss Hickory takes control, grabs some kernels of dried corn and tells the hen-pheasants to follow her. Each timid hen took a kernel of corn in her bill and followed Miss Hickory over to Ground Hog’s hole where Miss Hickory told them to drop their kernels and run. Miss Hickory knocked on Ground Hog’s door. Ground Hog peeked out, saw the corn and pounced upon it. He did not see his shadow and so ventured off, gnawing at some bushes. Miss Hickory exclaimed that “Spring is coming!”
Strange chapter, but, again, Miss Hickory rises to the occasion by
taking control of the situation and changing it for the better. They all now
have hope for an early spring. Ground Hog made no effort to return the food
he had been given. Guess he’s not going to change.
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Groundhog Facts:
What's so special about Feb. 2?
Celestially speaking, Groundhog Day on Feb. 2 is a "cross-quarter"
day, about halfway between the winter solstice in December and the vernal equinox
in March, and is celebrated in some cultures as the mid point of winter. It's
not far from the time many groundhogs end their hibernation anyway, around the
second week of February.
What's going on in that burrow?
In the winter, not much. Groundhogs go into profound hibernation, greatly reducing
their metabolic rate, and their body temperature drops to just a few degrees
above ambient temperature. Because their hibernaculum, the deepest portion of
the burrow where they hibernate, is below frost line, that produces a body temperature
as low as 39-40 degrees F.
What's the wake-up call?
The groundhog's internal clock is believed to be affected by annual changes
in the amount of daylight. Hormonal responses to cyclic changes in production
of melatonin, a sleep-related hormone, are thought by some to be the signal
to wake up.
Why did groundhog fur coats go out of fashion?
Groundhog fur never was in vogue, partly because it is not particularly thick
and warm, and because the fur's grizzled grey-brown appearance is more appealing
to others of their species than to people. Groundhog hairs are used for tying
trout flies, such as the 'Chuck Caddis, and early American Indians once used
sturdy woodchuck hides for soles of moccasins.
What's for dinner?
Groundhogs in the wild eat succulent green plants, such as dandelion greens,
clover, plantain and grasses. They also are tempted by nearby garden vegetables.
At Cornell, they dine on Agway Woodchuck Chow, a similar formulation to rabbit
feed but in larger-sized pellets. Woodchucks binge and purposefully put on weight
in the summer, reaching their maximum mass in late August. They become lethargic
and prepare for hibernation in October. By February, hibernating woodchucks
have lost as much as half their body weight.
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
About 700 pounds. Compared to beavers, groundhogs/woodchucks are not adept at
moving timber, although some will chew wood. (At Cornell, woodchucks that gnaw
their wooden nest boxes are given scraps of 2-by-4 lumber.) A wildlife biologist
once measured the inside volume of a typical woodchuck burrow and estimated
that -- if wood filled the hole instead of dirt -- the industrious animal would
have chucked about 700 pounds' worth.
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One interesting fact in the book is that groundhogs can remove 700 lbs of soil
to complete a 20 to 25 ft long burrow with multiple chambers.