Editing Groundhog (section)

===Burrows===
[[File:Marmota monax UL 07.jpg|thumb|Groundhog gathering nesting material for its warm [[burrow]]]]
Groundhogs are excellent burrowers, using burrows for sleeping, rearing young, and [[hibernation|hibernating]]. Groundhog burrows usually have two to five entrances, providing groundhogs their primary means of escape from predators. The volume of earth removed from groundhog burrows in one study averaged {{convert|6|cuft|m3}} per den. The longest burrow measured {{convert|24|ft|m}} in addition to two short side galleries.<ref name="Schoonmaker"/>{{rp|108-109}} 

Though groundhogs are the most solitary of the marmots, several individuals may occupy the same burrow.

Burrows can pose a serious threat to agricultural and residential development by damaging farm machinery and even undermining building foundations.<ref name="adweb">{{cite web |last=Light |first=Jessica E. |title=Animal Diversity Web: Marmota monax |url=http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Marmota_monax.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518042717/http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Marmota_monax.html |archive-date=May 18, 2011 |access-date=July 14, 2009 |publisher=University of Michigan Museum of Zoology}}</ref> In a June 7, 2009, Humane Society of the United States article, "How to Humanely Chuck a Woodchuck Out of Your Yard" by John Griffin, director of Humane Wildlife Services, stated you would have to have a lot of woodchucks working over a lot of years to create tunnel systems that would pose any risk to a structure.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

The burrow is used for safety, retreat in bad weather, hibernating, sleeping, mating, and nursery. In addition to the nest, there is an excrement chamber. The hibernation or nest chamber is lined with dead leaves and dried grasses.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kwiecinski |first=Gary G. |date=1998-12-04 |title=Marmota monax |url=https://academic.oup.com/mspecies/article-lookup/doi/10.2307/3504364 |journal=Mammalian Species |issue=591 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.2307/3504364|jstor=3504364 }}</ref> The nest chamber may be about twenty inches to three feet ({{convert|20|-|36|in|cm|disp=out}}) below ground surface. It is about {{convert|16|in|cm}} wide and {{convert|14|in|cm}} high. There are typically two burrow openings or holes. One is the main entrance, the other a spy hole. Description of the length of the burrow often includes side galleries. Excluding side galleries, Schoonmaker reports the longest was {{convert|24|ft|m}}, and the average length of eleven dens was {{convert|14|ft|m}}.<ref name="Schoonmaker"/>{{rp|104-105}} W. H. Fisher investigated nine burrows, finding the deepest point {{convert|49|in|cm}} down. The longest, including side galleries, was {{height|ft=47|in=11.5}}.<ref name="Seton1928"/>{{rp|306}} Numbers of burrows per individual groundhog decrease with [[urbanization]].<ref name="watson"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lehrer |first1=E.W. |last2=Schooley |first2=R.L. |last3=Whittington |first3=J.K. |date=2011-12-14 |title=Survival and antipredator behavior of woodchucks ( Marmota monax ) along an urban–agricultural gradient |url=http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/z11-107 |journal=[[Canadian Journal of Zoology]] |language=en |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=12–21 |doi=10.1139/z11-107 |issn=0008-4301}}</ref>

Bachman mentioned when young groundhogs are a few months old, they prepare for separation, digging a number of holes in the area of their early home. Some of these holes were only a few feet deep and never occupied, but the numerous burrows gave the impression that groundhogs live in communities.<ref name="Seton1928"/>{{rp|318}}

Abandoned groundhog burrows benefit many other species by providing shelter. They are used by [[Cottontail rabbit|cottontail rabbits]], [[Raccoon|raccoons]], [[Fox|foxes]], [[River Ottter|river otters]], [[Eastern chipmunk|eastern chipmunks]], and a wide variety of small mammals, snakes, and birds.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://njaes.rutgers.edu/e361/|title=Ecology and Management of the Groundhog (Marmota monax)|access-date=August 7, 2024}}</ref>