Do Woodchucks Really Chuck Wood

Their name originates from the original words used to describe them by the Native Americans.

Do woodchucks really chuck wood. With long buck teeth they spend most of their days gnawing down trees to use for river dams or underwater lodges. Geico commercial beavers chucking wood. They somewhat resemble hogs and beavers and they tend to whistle when alarmed.

Woodchuck which stems from the Algonquin word for the animal wuchak. In those areas where theyre known as woodchucks its not because they like to chuck wood. Groundhogs land-beavers whistle-pigs and of course woodchucks.

These small North American rodents are known by many names. While beavers do look similar to woodchucks the real confusion comes from the name. In 1988 Richard Thomas a New York Fish and Wildlife technician decided to estimate how much wood a woodchuck might chuck if it indeed could chuck wood.

Since woodchucks cant chuck wood we may never know. Though groundhogs dont chuck wood as their nickname may suggest beavers do. These small North American rodents are known by many names.

So Thomas took to calculating a typical size of a woodchuck burrow which consists of three rooms and a tunnel leading to it that is roughly six inches wide and extends 25 to 30 feet. They primarily eat grass clover fruits and berries but like to graze in vegetable gardens and crop fields. While woodchucks do not chuck wood they do chuck dirt as they build underground burrows.

They do not typically eat hard wood. Would a woodchuck chuck as much as a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood. Contrary to the Geico commercials the name woodchuck has nothing to do with chucking or wood.