TODAY’S EVENTS – Wednesday, Feb. 1

WHAT’S HAPPENING? 

• CSU Groundhog Expert Offers Fascinating Facts

FORT COLLINS – In celebration of Groundhog Day, Feb. 2, Colorado State University Professor of Biology Greg Florant offers three fascinating facts about groundhogs – those hibernating, shadow-hating rodents.

What’s in a name?: Groundhogs are the East Coast version of the marmot, which is found in the West (Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada). Both belong to the genus Marmota, but are distinct species. Groundhogs, also called woodchucks, are Marmota monax. Marmots are Marmota flaviventris.

The long nap: Both groundhogs and marmots undergo hibernation from about October through March, during which they exhibit bouts of what biologists call torpor. During these periods, they reduce their body temperature from about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit to near-ambient levels – as low as 35 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on where they are. They also reduce their respiration and heart rate one hundred-fold: from 300 beats per minute to as low as just three beats per minute. During hibernation, the animals do wake up periodically, and their body temperatures rise, but they usually enter back into torpor within a few hours. They can remain at their very low body temperatures for as long as three to four weeks.

Hold the food: Marmots and groundhogs do not eat at all during their hibernation periods. Rather, they burn the fat stores they’ve accumulated during summer and early fall. They normally double their body weight from spring to fall.

EVERY WEDNESDAY

• Baby Bounce

  Anythink Bennett library @ 10-10:30 a.m. Songs, stories and rhyme times for babies up to age 2 and their caregivers. 

• Music & Movement

  Anythink Bennett library @ 10:30 a.m. Ages 2-6 can sing, dance and learn to play basic instruments.

• Bennett Young At Heart Seniors Potluck

  Bennett Community Center @ 12 p.m. Shirley Kuzara, (303)644-4768.

• Byers Silver & Gold Senior Citizens Game Day

  Byers American Legion Hall @ 12:30 p.m.

• Recovery in Christ

   Valley Bank, Strasburg @ 7 – 9 p.m.

SCHOOL NEWS

• Byers
  Basketball JV & V @ Kiowa, 4 p.m.
• Strasburg High School
  Eastern Colo Honor Band @ Bennett, 6:30pm
  Cheer Youth Clinic HS Classrooms, 3:30pm – 5:30pm
  Wrestling Practice SES Cafeteria, 3:45pm – 6:00pm
  Youth Wrestling Practice SES Cafeteria, 6:15pm – 8:15pm
  TC Lightning Club Softball Practice @ Hemp Hill Middle School Gym, 7:00pm – 8:30pm
  Bennett Middle School Girls Basketball @ KIPP, 4:30 PMEastern CO Honor Band Concert, 6:30 PM
• Bennett Middle School
  PTO Meeting, 5:00 PM
  Acct. Meeting, 5:30 PM

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