Who needs groundhogs? KC Zoo has a sharper forecaster: A hedgehog

So they say Punxsutawney Phil the groundhog saw his shadow, signaling six more weeks of winter?

Fake news.

Tater the hedgehog begs to differ.

In what has become a Feb. 2 tradition at the Kansas City Zoo, eyes turned to an African pygmy hedgehog.

The spiky 1-year-old did not see his shadow, meaning winter’s end is nigh.

How do we know? Because Jessica Cunningham said so. The assistant manager in the zoo’s Shows and Ambassors Department explained that Tater vocalizes and puffs up when he gets startled. That didn’t happen Friday, indicating he did not get spooked by his shadow.

Asking a hedgehog to predict the weather apparently stems back to Roman times. German immigrants in Pennsylvania found no hedgehogs, but groundhogs were plentiful so they made do.

As Tater might say, “Make Hedgehog Day great again.”

This story was originally published February 2, 2018 at 1:24 PM with the headline "Who needs groundhogs? KC Zoo has a sharper forecaster: A hedgehog."