Jerry Hager, age 7, of Wilmington, N.J., for his question:

WHAT IS A WOODCHUCK?

There's an old riddle that goes: "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

As a matter of fact, the woodchuck doesn't chuck or toss wood. He lives in Canada and in the eastern and midwestern parts of the United States and is also called a ground hog or a whistle pig. He's a rodent and spends most of his life burrowing into the ground.

Woodchucks hibernate each winter. They settle into a deep sleep with breathing slowing down from a normal 262 breaths per minute to only 14 breaths per minute.

Woodchucks dine voraciously on bark from trees and such fruits as blackberries, raspberries, cherries and also on grass, leaves and flowers.

Some farmers rate the woodchuck as a pest because he can destroy crops.