Each year at this time the world focuses on Punxsutawney, PA, home of the world’s most famous groundhog.
Who decided that Phil would be the official spokesrodent for all groundhogs? Was it just a case of the Punxsutawney Chamber of Commerce promoting their celebration and nobody challenged them, or has there been some kind of official acknowledgement?
Phil’s juridiction is only the U.S. The offical Canadian meterological rodent is Wireton Willy.
I was wondering about that myself. I guess the folks at Punxsutawney started Groundhog Day back in 1887. Thank you, Wikipedia.
Hedgehog day, the European holiday, is quite ancient by comparison. But hedgies aren’t indiginous to the US, so the duties were handed off to the dumb rodent. I consider hedgehogs far more intelligent and charismatic, and so I celebrate hedgehog day and ignore the fanfare around the usurper in Pennsylvania.
Wisconsin has the offical groundhog, and PA And us don’t agree on it.
The premise is flawed. There is nothing “official” about Punxsutawney Phil, beyond what the local chamber of commerce would like you to believe. The news media like the story, the the name Punxsutawney in any context just sounds funny. More funny than Sun Prairie.
Incidentally, Gus, the second-most-famous groundhog in Pennsylvania, is the official spokesrodent for the PA Lotto.
how old is this groundhog anyway?
That’s what I’m wondering. And how many different groundhogs has he been over the years? My theory is that the real Punxsutawney Phil died many years ago (perhaps going over a cliff with Bill Murray) and has been replaced by a look-alike. And his real name is Punxsutawney Paul.
In the last photo I saw, Punxsutawney Paul is barefoot and smoking a cigarette.
Official my hind foot! Here in Georgia we have General Beauregard Lee, who reports an early spring for 2006. With a accuracy rate of 93%, the General is unrivaled in the field of spring prognostication. Why, he even has an official title - ’Georgia’s Official Weather Prognosticator’ - bestowed by the governor, no less. Good thing, too, if you ask me. The more we can keep the governer thinking about groundhogs, the more we can keep him from thinking about draining our pocketbooks. And a mansion! the General has a mansion (forget the price) Does Puxatau…Paxitunn…Paxagunn…Phil have a mansion?
[sub]Damn yankee bias in the press.[/sub]
It’s “Wiarton”. 
According to the folks in Punxsutawney, the groundhog is over 100 years old, and they feed him a special liquid in order to prolong his life. This probably isn’t true, of course, but it makes a good story.
What tipped you off?
Phil was selected as American’s groundhog, first winning the favor of professional judges(Simon, Paula,Randy) and then the viewer callin.
Well, that explains the surprisingly small number of Google hits I got.
you can declare yourself the top groundhog, if there aren’t any others to say nope.
http://www.groundhogsday.com/groundhogcentral.php has all of the groundhogs listed. find the one nearest you for the proper prediction.
Phil is actually one of 4(I believe) groundhogs that live in the library in downtown Punxy in a glass-encased cage. I think groundhogs only live several years, so they’re rotated every so often. Last time I bothered to go down to the library when I was in Punxy the place where they kept Phil (and the others) looked very much like a giant hampster house…
To hell with the Doppler 3000! We got us a rodent! 
Perhaps not, but he does has a website that doesn’t error out with a “509 - Bandwidth Limit Exceeded” message on Groundhog’s Day.
I can just imagine the General’s webmaster furrowing his brow in confusion over the matter:
“I don’t get it, boss. The traffic was slow and steady throughout summer and fall, and now suddenly we get this massive spike in activity at the beginning of February? I can’t make heads or tails of this whole situation. Did we get Slashdotted? Is someone trying to hack us? This is just too much for me to handle. I need to get out of here and find some whiskey.”
“This probably isn’t true”
Oh you are so cute…