I'm pretty sure I never evolved. Now, I don't care which end of Nature/Nurture you are on, or whether you believe in the Darwin vs. God fight. I didn't evolve. At least, not according to Matt Andrews a biology professor at UMD, who says that "as humans evolved, however, we were selected for the ability to maintain our temperatures." I'd like to tell Mr. Andrews that I have not evolved and my body was created to hibernate. Check out the proof I found at http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312800/hibernate.htm .

"Hibernation is a time when animals ‘sleep’ through cold weather. This sleep is not like human sleep where loud noises can wake you up. With true hibernation, the animal can be moved around or touched and not know it. [Don’t you do this, though. Some animals only go into a torpor or temporary sleep time and can wake up quickly. Like BEARS.] We are going to use the word 'sleep' sometimes but hibernation is different from regular sleep. With normal sleep, the animal moves a little, has an active brain, and can wake up very quickly. With true hibernation, the animal appears dead. There is no movement and it takes a long time for it to wake up enough to even walk around"

Apparently, Mr. Andrews has never seen me sleep in the winter. All day I long to just curl up in my bed and go back to sleep. When winter comes I can sleep 12 hours straight without stirring, except when awaken by either my alarm clock or the repetative dreams of various types of food. I often appear dead. My mother has said so. Hibernation is severely under rated. And I believe I need to avoid the stress of the cold, winter months and sleep until it is warmer and safer for my survival. (As quoted by library.thinkquest.com)

That Groundhog had better be shadow free tomorrow! Or I may just follow the quote on my email and pay a little visit to Puxatawny Phil! :) So, if you see an article about a missing groundhog...say nothing. It is crucial to my survival! :)