Woodchuck groundhog Marmota monax, Drinking from Fountain on Deck cover photo - 191639330

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Photo title: Woodchuck groundhog Marmota monax, Drinking from Fountain on Deck
Author: Natureheart

Cover photo description:
Took this video from our kitchen window one hot afternoon when a woodchuck that has taken up residence beneath our shed came up on our deck and started drinking from the bird bath / fountain to quench his/her thirst. Description: The groundhog Marmota monax, also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. The groundhog prefers open country and the edges of woodland, and is rarely far from a burrow entrance. Marmota monax has a wide geographic range. It is typically found in low-elevation forests, small woodlots, fields, pastures and hedgerows. It constructs dens in well-drained soil, and most have summer and winter dens. The etymology of the name woodchuck is unrelated to wood or chucking. It stems from an Algonquian possibly Narragansett name for the animal, wuchak. The similarity between the words has led to the popular tongue-twister: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could if a woodchuck could chuck wood!