What is the maximal age a Groundhog reaches?
An adult Groundhog (Marmota monax) usually gets as old as 10 years.
Groundhogs are around 31 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 27 grams (0.06 lbs) and measure 8.9 cm (0′ 4″). As a member of the Sciuridae family (genus: Marmota), a Groundhog caries out around 4 little ones per pregnancy, which happens around 1 times a year. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 41.4 cm (1′ 5″).
As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.
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. It was first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.The groundhog is also referred to as a chuck, wood-shock, groundpig, whistlepig, whistler, thickwood badger, Canada marmot, monax, moonack, weenusk, red monk and, among French Canadians in eastern Canada, siffleux.The name “thickwood badger” was given in the Northwest to distinguish the animal from the prairie badger. Monax (Móonack) is an Algonquian name of the woodchuck, which meant “digger” (cf. Lenape monachgeu). Young groundhogs may be called chucklings.Other marmots, such as the yellow-bellied and hoary marmots, live in rocky and mountainous areas, but the groundhog is a lowland creature. It is found through much of the eastern United States across Canada and into Alaska.
Animals of the same family as a Groundhog
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Sciuridae):
- Northern palm squirrel with 2 babies per pregnancy
- European ground squirrel with 6 babies per pregnancy
- Tufted pygmy squirrel with 1 babies per pregnancy
- Bornean mountain ground squirrel bringing the scale to 130 grams
- Variegated squirrel with 5 babies per pregnancy
- White-tailed antelope squirrel becoming 5.75 years old
- Indian giant squirrel growing to a mass of 1.06 kgs (2.34 lbs)
- Tarbagan marmot with 4 babies per pregnancy
- Mindanao squirrel getting as big as 21 cm (0′ 9″)
- Boehm’s bush squirrel with 1 babies per pregnancy
Animals that reach the same age as Groundhog
With an average age of 10 years, Groundhog are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Agile wallaby usually reaching 12 years
- Maned sloth usually reaching 12 years
- Edible dormouse usually reaching 9 years
- Parma wallaby usually reaching 10 years
- Rafinesque’s big-eared bat usually reaching 10.08 years
- Yellow-footed rock-wallaby usually reaching 12 years
- American red squirrel usually reaching 12 years
- Fisher (animal) usually reaching 10.08 years
- Pallas’s long-tongued bat usually reaching 10 years
- Northern treeshrew usually reaching 10 years
Animals with the same number of babies Groundhog
The same number of babies at once (4) are born by:
- Iberian shrew
- Silver mountain vole
- Korean field mouse
- Merriam’s chipmunk
- European mink
- Bank vole
- Giant naked-tailed rat
- Tien Shan birch mouse
- Great Basin pocket mouse
- Indian hedgehog
Weighting as much as Groundhog
A fully grown Groundhog reaches around 3.88 kg (8.55 lbs). So do these animals:
- Moustached guenon weighting 3.44 kilos (7.58 lbs) on average
- Pampas fox weighting 4.54 kilos (10.01 lbs) on average
- Sechuran fox weighting 4.23 kilos (9.33 lbs) on average
- European hare weighting 3.82 kilos (8.42 lbs) on average
- Campbell’s mona monkey weighting 3.63 kilos (8 lbs) on average
- Rüppell’s fox weighting 3.25 kilos (7.17 lbs) on average
- Red-eared guenon weighting 3.25 kilos (7.17 lbs) on average
- European wildcat weighting 4.53 kilos (9.99 lbs) on average
- Long-tailed marmot weighting 4.35 kilos (9.59 lbs) on average
- White-tailed mongoose weighting 3.66 kilos (8.07 lbs) on average
Animals as big as a Groundhog
Those animals grow as big as a Groundhog:
- Nine-banded armadillo with 44.3 cm (1′ 6″)
- Long-tailed porcupine with 41.5 cm (1′ 5″)
- Northern brown bandicoot with 35.4 cm (1′ 2″)
- Bahamian hutia with 39.5 cm (1′ 4″)
- Indian grey mongoose with 40 cm (1′ 4″)
- Pale fox with 43 cm (1′ 5″)
- Brazilian porcupine with 46.9 cm (1′ 7″)
- Cape gray mongoose with 35 cm (1′ 2″)
- Sunda flying lemur with 37.9 cm (1′ 3″)
- Peruvian spider monkey with 45.4 cm (1′ 6″)