GERMANY: Berlin's groundhogs are going to sleep for their winter hibernation

Record ID: 816026

  • Title: GERMANY: Berlin's groundhogs are going to sleep for their winter hibernation
  • Date: 5th November 2005
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (German) ZOO VET ANDRE SCHUELER SAYING: "They don't starve during hibernation because they have built up fat reserves beforehand which then last for six weeks, as long as their winter sleep."
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Nature / Environment,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA5GLR4ZKPI2TST8DHJW1ZSGTHB
  • Story Text: Berlin's groundhogs started their winter sleep on Wednesday (November 2, 2005). Groundhogs are one of the few animals that really hibernate. Hibernation is not just a deep sleep, it's actually a deep coma, where the body temperature drops to a few degrees above freezing, heart beat and blood is reduced to a minimum, and breathing practically stops.
    "Groundhogs are aware of the changing durations of day and night. In autumn the days get shorter, as they are doing now, and that is a tip for the groundhogs to prepare for their winter sleep," the Zoo Vet, Andre Schueler told Reuters." And of course it also gets colder, and so they eat a lot to build up their fat reserves, and disappear into their burrows."
    The groundhogs will sleep through the cold winter months until February, when they re-awake - on Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day, February 2nd, is a popular tradition in the United States, it is the day that the groundhog comes out of his hole after a long winter sleep to look for his shadow. If he sees it, he regards it as an omen of six more weeks of bad weather and goes back into his hole. If the day is cloudy and, therefore shadowless, he takes it as a sign of spring and stays above ground.
    Supposedly the Romans brought this ancient tradition to Teuton Germany during the conquest of the northern countries. The Teutons concluded that if the sun made an appearance on Candlemas Day, the European hedgehog coming out of his winter sleep would cast a shadow, thus predicting six more weeks of bad weather. The U.S. state famous for Groundhog day and the world's most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil is Pennsylvania, whose earliest settlers were Germans. Finding groundhogs in multitudes in many parts of the state, the settlers decided that the groundhog must be an intelligent animal and concluded that if the sun did appear on February 2nd, so wise an animal as the groundhog would see its shadow and hurry back into its underground home for another six weeks of winter.
    The average groundhog is around 20 inches long (50 cm) and normally weighs from 12 to 15 pounds (3 to 7 kg). Punxsutawney Phil is a good deal larger than his Berlin cousins, he weighs about 20 pounds and is 22 inches long, but then he receives a drink of 'magical punch' every summer during the annual Groundhog Picnic.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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