Well, today was Groundhog Day! Groundhog Day is an ancient Asian holiday where a groundhog is used to predict the weather. Back in the 19th century, a family of groundhogs was brought to Pennsylvania in the luggage of Japanese immigrants so that they could continue their tradition. And they have to this day.

The current groundhog is Punxsutawney Phil. He is thought to be over 35 years old and is showing no signs of frailty.

closeup_groundhogThe verdict: MORE WINTER. It was unfair, though. If Phil would have been brought out later in the day, he would have seen his shadow since a blizzard is about to pummel the East Coast.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 8:27 pm and is filed under Animal-people interaction, Mammals, rodent. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.