February 2, 2012 - Marmot Day in Alaska

nandnHedgehog Day n

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nInnan earlier post, I wrote about today’s main U.S. holiday, GroundhognDay. This is the day that an overlarge rodent comes out of his holenand supposedly predicts the weather. (If it’s a clear day and thengroundhog sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter; ifnit’s cloudy and the groundhog doesn’t see its shadow, spring isnalmost here.) I didn’t realize that this holiday got started innancient Roman times, but with an entirely different animal: thenhedgehog!

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nOnnthe night of February 2, in Roman times, a hedgehog is brought out ofnits burrow to see if there is a moon-shadow. The shadow-spotting andnweather-forecasting was probably a nighttime event because hedgehogsnare nocturnal, which means that they sleep during the day and arenactive at night.

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nItnis natural enough that people who celebrated this custom in Europenchanged from hedgehogs to groundhogs, because there are no hedgehogsnnative to North or South America. (Nor are there hedgehogs innAustralia. But there are 17 different species of hedgehogs in Europe,nAsia, and Africa.)

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Neithernhedgehogs nor groundhogs live in Alaska, but Alaska marmots do! (Innorder to honor their own native ground squirrel, Alaskans havenswapped out Groundhog Day for Marmot Day.

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n(Actually,ngroundhogs are a kind of marmot. Alaska marmots are a differentnspecies of marmots.)

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nAlaskanmarmots, like many other marmot species in the world, live in rockynareas and eat grass, flowering plants, berries, roots, moss, andnlichen.

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nAlsonon this date:

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