Groundhogs are top-level annoying creatures that can run quickly. The fast pace of woodchucks sometimes gives questions to the head if they are able to sense or can’t see like rats.
To know whether do groundhogs have good eyesight and hearing or not, you might need to look into their ear and eye parts.
In general, yes groundhogs do have fairly good eyesight and hearing. These 2 parts are the groundhog’s sensory organs that help them sense bad or good from afar.
Despite having tiny eyes and ears, they can survive through these organs. In this piece of content, I’ll share inner info about this topic and bring other interesting stuff that helps you know more about them.
Keep On Reading…
Groundhogs Eyesight and Hearing!
To understand how are groundhogs smart, it gets essential to evaluate their senses. Thanks to their excellent eyes + ears, they feel safe against predator animals. Let me break down details about their good eyesight and hearing ability.
Groundhogs Have Good Eyesight
The groundhogs have excellent eyesight thanks to the orbit, chambers, eyeball, cornea, periorbita, upper and lower eyelids, and so on parts.
Whether are groundhogs dangerous to humans or not, you should know about them, especially how they use their senses. The eyes are a special sensory organ of woodchucks that helps them to see and sense an object from a great distance.
Just like the human eyes, the optic part of the retina sits to the Ora Serrata. And the latter represents the optic disc of other objects which is around 0.5 mm wide and 5 – 7 mm long.
Being soft and clear, the lens of groundhog eyes is spherical in the structure that helps see animals from a vast gap in a blurry-free picture.
Their observing ability through the eye is simply great in the daylight to spot animals quickly and able to figure out the creature.
So, can groundhogs see at night? Yes, they can see in the nighttime too, but you’ll hardly see them in dark hours as this is the period of their sleeping.
Fun Fact:
- The eye bulb is linked with the extraocular muscles that help move the eyelid and protect it.
- The orbital margin circumference is 55 mm.
- Groundhogs have long lashes in the upper and lower lid margins.
- The eye gland is about 7 mm long and 5 mm wide.
- Woodchuck’s eyes are round and big.
- The cornea is oval in shape.
Groundhogs Have Good Hearing
Apart from the eyes, the woodchuck’s second sensory organ is the ear. Through this special part, they are able to hear sound waves of different animals to sense from a great distance. That’s why the groundhogs have the great hearing ability.
As we all know, all animals have the senses to determine an object quickly even if the object is hidden. People in the past used to think the groundhogs can’t be able to hear due to lack of information.
In modern times, it’s proven that groundhogs can hear through their external, middle, and inner ear (divided into 3 sections).
Using this sense, they locate farms and food sources too to ruin that by mass eating. Be sure to check how to get rid of groundhogs ammonia if you’re land is in danger.
Fun Fact:
- The external ear is around 40 mm long.
- The opening of the ear canal is about 5 mm long and 4 mm wide.
- C-shaped annular cartilage is 5 mm in length.
- You’ll locate 3 auditory ossicles in the middle ear, malleus, incus, and stapes.
Groundhogs Have Bad Vision Right After Birth
After the birth, they need 3 weeks to develop their seeing ability. During these days, the baby groundhog will not see (as their eyes are closed) but use their second sense (ear) to locate their mom and stick to them. But that doesn’t mean they have bad vision.
The groundhogs just can’t see after birth. However, if they fight with predator animals and injure their eyes, this can cause them to stick with bad vision illness aka blindness.
Groundhogs Are Slightly Color Blind
If talking about color and groundhog relation, it’s kind of messy to explain in a word. The groundhogs are able to see most colors but not what humans see with their eyes.
They can react differently if see red, black, white, orange, or even blue. In some shades, they might stare at you while doing their work. While in others, they won’t even look at your dress.
Overall Thoughts
This is how do groundhogs have good eyesight and hearing! Understanding this little study sometimes helps especially when you are doing some kind of research.
Now, you can trick their senses by placing some traps or maybe use scents to prevent them from your yard if it’s about getting rid of woodchucks.
Hope this guide feels informative and helpful at the same time. Take Care!
