Groundhog alternatives
Houston Zoo goes from groundhog to guinea, but what about octopi?
- Phil the groundhog
- Paul the octopusPhoto by Roland Weihrauch
- Heidi the opossumPhoto by Sebastian Willnow/AP
- Guinea pigPhoto by neverendingparty/Photobucket
The Houston Zoo has made the bold choice to forgo the traditional groundhog for a guinea pig — hoping that the oversized rodent is equally adept at predicting the weather. (It seems like a particularly lazy group of guinea pigs, as their projected wake-up time isn't until 11 a.m. Wednesday.)
We suspect the zoo's choice of mammal has more to due with convenience and availability than with sheer natural talent, and we can't help but think there are some better candidates. The last thing we want is a false reading, so here are our nominees for other alternative weather predictors:
Octopus
Pros: They've got a history of accurate future prediction.
Cons: Being underwater, it'll probably be pretty difficult to discern its own shadow.
Possum, preferably cross-eyed
Pros: Its fan-base means that no matter what it predicts, people leave happy.
Cons: It's cross-eyed; again with the shadow.
Ostrich
Pros: They spend most of their time with their heads in the ground, making them particularly apt at examining ground-soil temperatures and analyzing what they mean for the weather. (That's what this is about, right?)
Cons: They're really mean.
Tell us: When it comes to ground hog day, is there any substitute for the real thing?
Watch why an ostrich is probably the worst choice, below: