Groundhogs, as a species, have a large range in size. There are
the medium-sized rodents I grew up with, averaging around 4 kg,
and groundhogs—like a certain Phil—that are probably more like
14 kg. This is the likely source of my earlier confusion, as
that's a huge discrepancy in size. Evidently, it's all in the
diet, much like humans. Where I grew up, in rural Northern
Minnesota, we called the groundhog a woodchuck; I thought that
the groundhog was some fat cat, East Coast, liberal rodent. As
it would turn out, they are actually one in the same
creature—Marmota monax, a member of the squirrel family.
Woodchucks spend a lot of their time in burrows. It is their
safe haven from their many predators, and they are quick to flee
to it at the first sign of danger. They will sometimes emit a
loud whistle on their way to alert others in the area that
something is awry. Groundhogs enjoy raiding our gardens and
digging up sod, thereby destroying what we've spent countless
hours toiling upon. Look for groundhog signs.