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I Am Woodchuck, Hear Me Roar

Most animals were wiped out when the humans succumbed to self-inflicted extinction. As when the giant rock buried itself in the Yucatan, fossorial (burrowing) species did best. And, just as the early mammals evolved to fill the niches vacated by non-avian dinosaurs, rodents filled much of Earth's post-Anthropocene blank slate. A few returned to the sea; aquatic gophers included the largest creature that ever lived: Maremys stupendicus. Others evolved into long-legged herd animals, as well as the carnivores that preyed on them. The lowly groundhog evolved into the most fearsome of all.

head rising
above the tallest trees
Marmota rex