Expert to give groundhog presentation Thursday

Bringing an informative Groundhog Day presentation, Christine Maher will give the talk “How much wood...?” at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Watson Forum inside the Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media.

Courtesy photo

The groundhog (Or is it a woodchuck?) has plenty of myth surrounding it.

Groundhogs are not, in fact, nature’s meteorologists.

Likewise woodchucks (another name for these large ground squirrels) do not chuck wood.

Anyone wanting to gain some scientific knowledge about these creatures, though, is invited to DePauw University on Groundhog Day, Thursday, Feb. 2, for a talk by one of the country’s foremost authorities on the subject.

Christine Maher will present, “How much wood...?” at 7 p.m. at the Watson Forum inside the Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media, 609 S. Locust St., Greencastle.

Relatively little is known about the social lives of these burrowing creatures, but Maher has done more research on the subject than any other contemporary scholar in America.

A professor at the University of Southern Maine, Maher has been featured in such places as The New York Times, National Public Radio’s “Living on Earth,” NBC’s Maine affiliate and a number of websites.

Besides speaking on the social behaviors of groundhogs, Maher is also prepared to answer questions on how to properly deal with them when they become pests to property owners.

So, whether Punxsatawney Phil casts a shadow Thursday or not, Maher will be in Greencastle, casting some light on the behaviors of groundhogs.