Hoary marmot in Denali National Park, Alaska, USA
© Perry de Graaf/Minden Picture
It's Groundhog Day, again. Groundhog Day arrives – beyond a shadow of a doubt
Do you think this hoary marmot in Alaska’s Denali National Park is wondering whether its relative, Punxsutawney Phil, saw his shadow today? Groundhog Day is an American tradition that originated among the Pennsylvania Dutch, but groundhogs aren’t the only animals believed to predict the weather. It’s said you can predict the severity of an upcoming winter by examining the stripes on a woolly bear caterpillar’s back. And in Germany, folks once looked to the badger to forecast the coming of spring. But no furry prognosticator of the weather has gained as much fame as Punxsutawney Phil. Perhaps we have Bill Murray to thank for that? (Be right back, got to que up Murray’s film ‘Groundhog Day.’) Say, do you ever have déjà vu? Wait, did we just ask you that?
Sea otter pup, Prince William Sound, Alaska
Sumatran rhinoceros, Way Kambas National Park, Indonesia
Pelicans at Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge, California
Seal pup, Lundy Island, England
Wildebeests in the Maasai Mara, Kenya
Great horned owl fledglings
Adélie penguins in Antarctica
Island fox in Channel Islands National Park, California
