
Adopt An Animal symbolically from World Animal Foundation. Your WAF Adopt An Animal Kit comes in a Deluxe WAF Folder and includes: Glossy Photo of Your Adopted Animal; Adopt An Animal Adoption Certificate; Fact Sheet About Your Adopted Animal; Help Animals Info Cards Packed With Information On Animal Issues & How You Can Help Animals And The Environment. Adopt An Animal for Yourself or as a Gift...
Adopt A Woodchuck From World Animal Foundation
Your World Animal Foundation Adopt A Woodchuck Kit comes in a Deluxe WAF Folder and includes:
Adopt A Woodchuck Kits make great gifts and can be sent directly to the recipient. Simply supply the recipient's name and mailing address as shipping information. We'll even include a letter stating the Adopt An Animal Kit is from you.
WAF's Adopt An Animal symbolic adoption is a one time fee and helps the World Animal Foundation to preserve the planet and protect its animals. Adopt an animal for yourself or order an Adopt An Animal Kit as a gift. Help make a difference for animals - Adopt An Animal Today!
Adopt A Woodchuck: Help World Animal Foundation Make A Difference For Animals!
Woodchucks, groundhogs and whistlepigs – what do they all have in common? Although most people are familiar with the sight and sound of these rodents, few realize that the three names all refer to the same species. Belonging to the family Scuiridae, woodchucks are part of the group of larger ground squirrels referred to as marmots. Their habitat is broadly distributed across northeastern and central Canada and the USA, as far north as Alaska and as far south as Georgia.
Unlike their lighter tree squirrel relatives, ground squirrels typically remain on the ground, preferring to situate their burrows in open field or on the edge of woodland areas. They can readily climb trees though, and are also capable swimmers when they need to be. Woodchucks are the largest member of this family in North America, generally ranging from around 16 to 26 inches in length and 4 to 9lb in weight. In cases where predators are few and there’s a good food supply, woodchucks can even grow as large as 30 lbs in weight. Their plentiful numbers usually make them an ideal food source for foxes, coyotes, birds of prey, bears and wild dogs, meaning that the average lifespan for most groundhogs in the wild doesn’t exceed 5 or 6 years of age.
Like other burrowing rodents, woodchucks have characteristics that make for efficient soil removal; compact, cylindrical bodies with short, strong front legs and curved, thick claws. On average, a single woodchuck can move approximately 5500 lb of soil when digging a burrow. Their coat is double layered to provide insulation during colder weather, with a short, dense undercoat, and a longer topcoat of darker banded guard hairs. Their brush-like tail stands erect to provide a warning to other groundhogs when an individual is on the alert, and though they retreat to their burrows when they’re threatened, they can fight fiercely with their front incisors and claws if they’re cornered. Woodchucks also tend to be very vocal, communicating with others through a range of squeals, barks, whistles and tooth grinding noises.
As a defense against predators, groundhogs prefer to live in burrows. Although they’re often solitary, they may also live with several other individuals (particularly in the case of a mother with kits), and usually one or two members of a colony stand ‘guard duty’ at a time while others sleep or forage. These ground burrows are used for sleeping, hiding, raising offspring and hibernating, and typically have anywhere from two to five entrances to provide an easily accessible means of escaping predators. Despite the woodchuck’s size, their burrows are no small feat of excavation. The average burrow extends as much as 45 feet long and up to 5 feet underground – much like a small rodent city. Most groundhogs will also designate separate chambers in their burrows for sleeping, nesting, and depositing waste.
Woodchucks, like most other rodents, are mostly plant-eaters, preferring grasses, alfalfa, berries, tender bark and shoots from low tree branches, and planted crops when they’re available. They’ll also eat nuts, insects, grubs and snails, though not as often as other rodent relatives. They’re highly opportunistic and voracious foragers in warm weather, eating around 1/3 of their own body weight each day and building a thick layer of fat for survival over colder months when they enter their burrows to hibernate.
The groundhog’s hibernation cycle, and particularly the timing of its emergence from hibernation, is what makes the woodchuck so well known in popular culture. Many of us are familiar with the rituals of Groundhog Day. Woodchucks actually enter into a true hibernation, a behavior unique to only a few animal species, where the body’s processes slow down to conserve energy. These rodents build and enter their winter burrows (built in wooded areas below the frost line) when they’re at their maximum weight, and typically will hibernate from October to March, though this period is sometimes as short as three months in warmer climates. During this period, their body temperature drops drastically (to as low as 40 degrees Fahrenheit), and their metabolism, breathing and heart rate slow dramatically as well to minimize energy loss. Woodchucks then emerge in the spring with some remaining reserve of body fat to sustain them until sufficient plant growth appears.
Groundhogs are generally mature enough to mate in their second year of life, with the breeding season happening shortly after they wake from hibernation and emerge from their burrows. Mated pairs stay together in the den for approximately a month until the kits are born, but the male leaves as soon as the female is ready to give birth. She raises the young entirely on her own after that point. Woodchuck kits are blind, hairless and depend completely on their dam’s care and protection when they’re born, but mature very quickly, weaning and leaving their den at around 5 weeks of age. Kits often stay with the female for up to two months as she introduces them to their surroundings and teaches them behaviors to copy in order to survive and find food.
THREATS TO WOODCHUCKS
In most areas, woodchucks are unfairly viewed as nuisances because of their tendency to eat crops and burrow, which can compromise building foundations, and they aren’t currently considered threatened or endangered in North America. In some areas, in fact, woodchucks are very populous, and are hunted regularly for food, or to harvest their fur. They also tend to frequently fall victim to moving vehicles, since many build their burrows near grassy areas adjacent to roads and highways.
Your World Animal Foundation Adopt An Animal Kit comes in a Deluxe WAF Folder and includes:
Glossy Photo Of Your Adopted Animal; Adopt An Animal Adoption Certificate; Fact Sheet About Your Adopted Animal; Help Animals Info Cards Packed With Information On Animal Issues & How You Can Help Animals And The Environment.
WAF's Adopt An Animal symbolic adoption is a one time fee and helps the World Animal Foundation to preserve the planet and protect its animals. Adopt an animal for yourself or order an Adopt An Animal Kit as a gift. Help make a difference for animals - Adopt An Animal Today!
Adopt An Animal Kits make great gifts and can be sent directly to the recipient:
Simply supply the recipient's name and mailing address as shipping information. We'll even include a letter stating the Adopt An Animal Kit is from you.
Why Adopt An Animal From World Animal Foundation?
Many of the planet’s most iconic and beloved animals are in trouble, and World Animal Foundation needs your help to save them. You can make a difference for wildlife and domestic animals by adopting an animal from World Animal Foundation for yourself, or adopting an animal as gift. Adopting an animal is the perfect gift for a loved one who loves animals, and helps to support World Animal Foundation's critical mission of preserving and protecting the planet and the animals that inhabit it.
The world is teaming with an amazing diversity of animals. Some species are beautiful, others bizarre — but they all are important to the ecosystem and deserve our respect, compassion and protection. Unfortunately, many animal species are declining at a rapid rate as a result of irresponsible human activities. Habitat destruction, pollution, hunting, poor agricultural practices and changes in climate are among the threats faced by wildlife and domestic animals. World Animal Foundation's Adopt An Animal program allows you to symbolically adopt your favorite animal species while supporting our important work of protecting wildlife, companion animals, farm animals and the environment.
Adopt An Animal contributions help provide critical financial support needed to preserve and protect some of the world's most imperiled and abused animals, and to combat the global forces that threaten wildlife, companion animals, farm animals and the planet. World Animal Foundation actively works to create lasting change by fighting the forces that devastate the environment, endanger wildlife and harm companion animals and farm animals. WAF is an all volunteer organization. The organization has no paid officers and uses all donations towards animal and environmental programs: direct rescue, educational programs and animal sanctuaries. Utilizing volunteerism, WAF has kept operating costs to a bare minimum while maximizing our ability to help animals.
Fast Shipping! (Note: Shipping Delays May Occur Due To Pandemic)
Shipping time for World Animal Foundation Adopt An Animal Kits averages 2 to 4 business days - USA. Allow additional time for Adopt An Animal Kits orders outside the USA. Your Adopt An Animal Packet will arrive approximately 2 to 4 business days following shipping date. Shipping & Handling for Adopt An Animal Kits within the USA are by U.S.P.S. Priority Mail.
INTERNATIONAL ORDERS: Average shipping time for Adopt An Animal Kits outside of the USA is 5 to 14 business days, including Canada. International Shipping & Handling for Adopt An Animal Kits is by U.S.P.S. First Class Mail.
World Animal Foundation Adopt An Animal Kits are provided by Tree Frog Trading.
The World Animal Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of the planet and the animals that inhabit it. WAF works with other not-for-profit organizations dedicated to planet preservation and animal issues. WAF works through public education, research, investigations, animal rescue, legislation, special events, and direct action.
WAF is an all volunteer organization. The organization has no paid officers and uses all donations towards animal and environmental programs: direct rescue, educational programs and animal sanctuaries. Utilizing volunteerism, WAF has kept operating costs to a bare minimum while maximizing our ability to help animals.
​WAF has members throughout the world and on every continent.
Through our volunteer network, the World Animal Foundation attempts to make the world a more compassionate place for all animals - wild animals, companion animals, aquatic animals and farm animals. Through grass roots action and activism, WAF bridged the gap between animal and environmental issues.
The Foundation has directly rescued thousands of animals and supports wildlife sanctuaries throughout the US. In addition, WAF engages in Trap-Neuter-Return of feral cats, animal adoptions, low cost spay-neuter programs and numerous animal concerns campaigns.
Membership in the organization is free. Donations are always appreciated and needed to carryout our crucial mission of helping animals and the planet. Help make a difference!