Global Warming: Bad News for Groundhogs, Good News for Deer Ticks

by: TheGreenMiles

Thu Feb 02, 2012 at 13:30:00 PM EST

Groundhogs are one of the few animals that achieve true, or "profound," hibernation, burrowing down below the frost line for the coldest months of the year. During this period, which usually lasts from mid-October to late February, a groundhog's heart rate drops from 80 beats a minute to only three or four, and its body temperature falls by 60 degrees. Warmer temperatures shorten hibernation, causing groundhogs to burrow later and rise earlier than is customary, said [Cornell wildlife expert Paul] Curtis.

"The big one is deer," he said. "Mother deer emerge from mild winters with a lot more of their body fat still on them, meaning that they're less likely to drop stillborn calves. That can certainly make for a population swell, particularly when you have a number of warm years back-to-back."

Although deer can devastate plant life when their populations grow out of control, the real danger to humans comes from the ticks they carry, said Curtis. Deer ticks spread Lyme disease, a debilitating bacterial infection that can result in symptoms from chronic muscle aches to paralysis.

And it's important to remember how global warming has completely changed the record books - before the late 1990s, 2011 would've been the hottest year on record. Man-made carbon pollution has rewritten our temperature records as thoroughly as steroids rewrote baseball's home run records.