I wonder if spring is near. The historic blizzard predicted for today kind of takes the suspense out of the groundhog legend.
The truth is, groundhogs are as anxious as we are for spring and decent weather. OK, maybe even more: Mating season comes just once a year.
Wednesday is Groundhog Day, so we decided to burrow a bit deeper into biology and legend. Lucky for us, one of the world’s leading experts on marmots — the group to which our native groundhogs belong — is Kenneth Armitage, professor emeritus at the University of Kansas.
Armitage’s interest in the social behavior of marmots took him to Yellowstone National Park and to the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado. He’s retired from field work now, but he spent more than 40 years studying the animals.
He will talk marmots Wednesday at the library (unless bad weather alters the schedule), but we got an early briefing — some nuggets you can store today to use in your groundhog celebrations.
Read the complete story at kansascity.com