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"Groundhog Wakeup Call", is the 25th episode of the second season of Wild Kratts, originally airing on PBS Kids on January 31, 2014.[1] Overall, it is the 65th episode of the series. The episode was written and directed by Martin Kratt.
In this episode, Aviva meets a young groundhog while she and the other Wild Kratts are enjoying springtime. She is then inspired to make a Groundhog Creature Power Suit, and consequently, the Wild Kratts begin a groundhog-themed adventure.
Plot[]
The episode begins with a live-action segment. The Kratt brothers find a groundhog and see it grazing. Afterward, they ask their "What if?" question, and the show transitions into the cartoon segment.
The snow has almost melted in Southeastern North America – where the Wild Kratts team is, who are all enjoying springtime. Aviva is lying on the ground when a young groundhog exits its burrow and meets her face to face. Aviva names it Dandelion, and she is inspired to make a Groundhog Creature Power Suit. The Kratt brothers help her find out what groundhogs can do. They discover that groundhogs are grazing animals and that they dig burrows. However, the Kratt brothers refuse to activate Groundhog Creature Power because they believe there's nothing interesting about groundhogs. This makes Aviva mad, so, with Dandelion in her hand, she activates her own Creature Power Suit. With the mind of a groundhog, she begins digging and eating dandelions and grass. She also asks them to come up with a mission, because "every Creature Power Suit needs a mission". The Kratt brothers come up with one: to disprove Groundhog Day, in which, according to legend, if a groundhog sees its shadow after hibernation, it will go back to its burrow, and there will be six more weeks of winter. If not, then spring has arrived. But since Southeastern North America is already experiencing springtime, the team then takes the Tortuga to the Northeastern North America, where it is still winter.
Upon reaching Northwestern North America, Aviva's tooth accessory was too long so she chewed the floor to wear it out and then she got hungry and started eating dandelions. The Tortuga lands in a snowy wooded area. The Kratt brothers find a groundhog hole and they miniaturize. Inside the hole is a hibernating groundhog that walled itself in before hibernation. Aviva had gained a lot of weight and when she left Tortuga she felt sleepy so she dug a burrow near the groundhog hole and starts hibernating. Chris tries to deactivate her Suit, but Martin pins him to the ground and explains that a sudden transition from hibernation to normal activity is dangerous, so the whole team waits until spring arrives.
The snow melts and spring arrives, and the groundhog hibernating in the burrow next to Aviva's burrow comes out. Although the groundhog sees its shadow, the attention is short-lived, and it enters another burrow to check out a female groundhog. Later, Aviva wakes up, emerges from her burrow, and deactivates her Creature Power Suit. The Wild Kratts then head south, where they have a picnic and summarize their adventure.
The show transitions into the concluding live action segment. The Kratt brothers restate the concepts shown in the cartoon sequence about the groundhog. Afterward, they conclude the episode by saying "Keep on creature adventuring; we'll see you on the creature trail!"
Characters[]
Humans[]
Animals[]
Animation[]
Note: Featured animals are in bold.
Mentioned[]
Note: Mentioned animals are linked to Wikipedia.
Live Action[]
Note: Live action and mentioned animals are linked to Wikipedia.
- Gray wolf (called Wolf)
- Brown bear (called Bear)
- American badger (called Badger)
- Great horned owl
Trivia[]
- "Groundhog Wakeup Call" is the debut of Aviva's Creature Power Suit and marks the second time she activates a Creature Power Suit overall.
- When Chris opens the garage door, the adventure equipment falls on top of him. This could be a reference to the closet scene in the Kratt Brothers' previous PBS Kids show, Zoboomafoo.
- This episode also marks the first time someone in the show gains weight. Aviva is bloated after eating all those dandelion salads.
- This is the second time a Wild Kratts member sleeps through winter. In this case, it's Aviva.
- This is the third episode where the Kratt brothers do not activate Creature Powers at all (the first and second being "Mystery of the Squirmy Wormy" and "Octopus Wildkratticus.")
Key facts and Creature Moments[]
- Groundhogs are a type of ground squirrel, they are great diggers that build a burrow network of tunnels for sleeping in, hibernating in, and to avoid predators they build escape entrances too.
- As the best digging animal in North America, groundhogs dig so much burrows that other animals can use them as homes and shelters.
- Like all rodents, groundhogs have ever-growing incisor teeth, they wear them down by eating grass.
- Groundhogs eat loads of grass every day, enough to fill a sink.
- Groundhogs graze near their burrow entrances so they can escape easily if a predator approaches.
- Groundhogs wall themselves in while hibernating to prevent predators from digging them out.
- How groundhogs hibernate: By slowing down their breathing to once every 6 minutes and heart beat to 4 beats per minute, as well as lowering their body temperature to prevent heat loss.
- Groundhogs fatten up and hibernate through the winter as there is no food for them during that period.
- A male groundhog wakes up from hibernation earlier than the females so he can survey and check out all the females in his territory.
- Coyotes will use the holes groundhogs have started and dig them bigger, expanding them to make them into their own burrows.
- When the days are getting longer; more light each day. That's the signal to hibernating animals to wake up! And somehow unknown to scientists, groundhogs can sense the increasing amount of daylight even when they're burrowed underground.
- On groundhog day, there is a myth that there will be 6 more weeks of winter if groundhogs get scared from seeing their shadow near the end of winter.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ "Wild Kratts - Ground Hog Wake Up Call." KET. Retrieved February 2, 2015.