what groundhog is used for groundhog day

The famous groundhog used for Groundhog Day is Punxsutawney Phil , the weather‑predicting groundhog from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who appears each year at Gobbler’s Knob on February 2.

Who Punxsutawney Phil Is

• Punxsutawney Phil is a groundhog that lives near the town of Punxsutawney in western Pennsylvania.

• He is the central figure in the town’s annual Groundhog Day ceremony and is treated as a kind of local celebrity and folk-hero.

• The tradition claims that Phil drinks a secret “elixir of life,” which is why there is always “one” Phil and he never seems to be replaced.

What Happens on Groundhog Day

• Every year on February 2, Phil is brought to Gobbler’s Knob, where a crowd gathers to watch his “forecast.”

• If he “sees his shadow” and returns to his burrow, it is said there will be six more weeks of winter; if he does not, folklore says an early spring is coming.

• Members of Phil’s Inner Circle (local dignitaries in top hats) handle his care and publicly interpret his prediction for the crowd.

Are Other Groundhogs Used?

While Punxsutawney Phil is the iconic and most widely recognized Groundhog Day groundhog, many other towns in the U.S. and Canada have their own local “weather groundhogs” (like Milltown Mel and others), but these are separate local traditions, not the main national ceremony.

TL;DR: The groundhog used for Groundhog Day (the main, famous one) is Punxsutawney Phil from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.