@Dave, the critter that comes to mind where you are that might come closest to a groundhog is a badger. You really don't want to drag one of those out of it's den because it WILL bite, and probably will do a whole lot more!
Now, that is cold in either C or F! How do the animals handle temps that low?
I think the animals do better at -40 than they to a 100F. Feed requirements do go up. If the cold lasts for an extended period you will notice some wear on them.
-27 is forecast here next Tuesday, most times their prediction of cold is off by a few degrees. Only supposed to last a week. We haven’t even had winter yet.
-33 is the coldest night forecast, for Sunday night. But we are often 10 degrees colder than town overnight when it’s clear and still. One of the benefits of living at the bottom of a narrow valley that runs north / south.
The closet thing to a ground hog would be a Marmot. They are pretty much a high country critter. A Badger is a completely different animal family. Badgers are a member of the weasel family. They are carnivorous.
Woodchuck and groundhog are the same animal, both of the "marmot" species... although Marmots are a defined larger sub-group of the species, and are found mostly in mountainous rocky regions.
Looking it up, you are correct, but, a marmot is not necessarily a groundhog apparently.
