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Groundhog Day is February 2nd each year.
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The largest and most famous celebration for Groundhog Day in the United States is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania and the groundhog's name is Punxsutawney Phil.
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The largest and most famous celebration for Groundhog Day in Canada is held in Wiarton, Ontario and the groundhog's name is Wiarton Willie.
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The groundhog is also known as a woodchuck.
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Groundhogs eat a lot of food all summer and become very fat and then sleep all winter. This is called hibernation.
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When groundhogs have babies they have about six at a time and the babies live with their mothers for several months.
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Groundhogs are members of the squirrel family and are the largest of all marmots.
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Groundhogs can climb trees and can swim very well.
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Groundhogs eat plants and grass and are herbivores.
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The first documented reference to the celebration dates to the 1800s.
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In 1841 a store keeper in Morgantown, Pennsylvania James Morris wrote about February 2nd and referred to it as Candlemas Day.
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Approximately 40,000 people attend the Groundhog Day celebration in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania each February 2nd.
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The first Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney was held in 1886 and has been held each year since then.
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The University of Dallas in Irving, Texas holds a Groundhog Day celebration each year which is believed to be the second largest celebration in the world after Punxsutawney.
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There are other Groundhog Day celebrations held in Pennsylvania including those in Quarryville, Schuylkill County, Sinnamahoning County and Bucks County.
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There is a Groundhog Day celebration held at the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park in Nova Scotia, Canada each year.
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New York City has a groundhog named ‘Pothole Pete'.
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Punxsutawney Phil's weather predictions have been accurate approximately 39% of the time since 1887. He sees his shadow about 85% of the time.
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Groundhog Day celebration organizers claim that predictions are accurate about 75% to 90% of the time.
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Other countries have similar spring forecast customs including Serbia (Sretenje), Germany (Siebenschlafertag), United Kingdom (St. Swithun's Day) and Alaska (Marmot Day).
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Punxsutawney Phil lives in a climate-controlled habitat that is attached to the Punxsutawney Library. Wiarton Willie lives in a similar habitat in Wiarton.
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Wiarton Willie is an albino (white) groundhog.
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A movie was made in 1993 called ‘Groundhog Day'. It was filmed in Woodstock, Illinois but was portrayed as Punxsutawney. It was a comedy about a man reliving the same day over and over again until he became a better person.
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