Forget looking for shadows, this Groundhog Day, keep your eyes peeled for an example of Chicago’s biodiversity

Chicago has its fair share of eclectic wildlife. From foxes shacking up in Millennium Park, to a squirrel (not a rat) memorialized in concrete to a massive snapping turtle, many Chicago critters have found their 15 minutes in the spotlight.

On Friday, though, that spotlight will shift east to the groundhog.

Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil predicts whether there will be six more weeks of winter (spoiler alert: for Chicago, that’ll always be the case). So Phil’s relatives in the Windy City live within our urban landscape to much less fanfare.

“They’re just a fun example of an animal that’s been able to live around people, and one that you can easily observe from a distance,” said Liza Lehrer, assistant director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at Lincoln Park Zoo.

Groundhogs, also known as woodchucks, are in the marmot family. They can grow up to 15 pounds. These critters typically go into hibernation in November and begin to emerge in early February, though Lehrer said climate change could be changing that pattern.

These creatures tend to like edge habitats, areas where a tree line meets a grassy field, though they’ve been sighted all over the city. To get around the city the critters follow paths along railroad tracks and the Chicago River.

“They actually dig these really complex, complicated road systems, which a lot of other animals can use. I’ve captured red foxes out of groundhog burrows, and raccoons,” Lehrer said.

Groundhogs have adapted to living among humans, but that doesn’t mean they coexist in perfect harmony.

“Although they are quite charismatic, they are herbivores, and they get into people’s gardens and sometimes really do a lot of damage to those gardens,” she said.

The Lincoln Park Zoo hasn’t had a groundhog under its care since at least 2002, when Lehrer began working at the institute, but she and her team have studied them at length. In 2016, the institute studied the impact of moving urban or suburban groundhogs to more rural areas, also known as transrelocation, in an effort to reduce negative human interactions. Less than 20% of the groundhogs survived the relocation.

Lehrer said this kind of result is somewhat expected in transrelocation studies.

“They may be really unfamiliar with the risks that are out there. And this is really the case for translocation of all animals in complex situations,” she said. “They may not know where to seek shelter, or how to find food, there also may be other animals of the same species that might be competing with them. So it can be really difficult for those animals to thrive and even to survive.”

Lehrer suggested using fencing or raised beds to reduce the risk of home gardens becoming a groundhog smorgasbord. Gravel around a home’s foundation can also deter burrowing, she said.

Groundhog Day was first celebrated in Pennsylvania in the 18th century, according to the National Weather Service, but it traces its roots to European weather lore. It is somewhat similar to Candlemas, a medieval Catholic holiday whose weather determined for early Christians the way the rest of the season would go.

Unfortunately, science can’t back up this superstition. Punxsutawney Phil’s shadow-spotting forecasts have only been right 39% of the time, according to the Stormfax Weather Almanac.

Regardless, Lehrer said, the holiday still provides a celebration of animals that other holidays don’t.

“They’re another great example of the biodiversity that we have here in the city,” she said. “If you just keep your eyes open to what’s around you, you’ll probably have some really interesting and fun urban wildlife encounters.”