Here is a cute video of some prairie dogs “at work”. Notice how the bison doesn’t step in the prairie dog burrow and break his leg…but he is interested in what’s to eat around the burrow!
Check it out on youtube: Close up!
Dedicated to the Preservation of Prairie Dogs and their Habitat
by PDP
Here is a cute video of some prairie dogs “at work”. Notice how the bison doesn’t step in the prairie dog burrow and break his leg…but he is interested in what’s to eat around the burrow!
Check it out on youtube: Close up!
by PDP
There are many images that evoke thoughts of New Mexico. The Cabezon, Otero Mesa, Governor’s Square in Santa Fe, the smell of roasting chile, but there is none that evoke it so much for me as the picture taken by Chuck Hayes at the Sevilleta. It just SCREAMS New Mexico. Prairie, Mountains, and Prairie Dogs.
This is a prairie dog we’d relocated during the summer. The Manzanos are in the background and you can see an artificial burrow tube immediately to the side of the prairie dog. It is still used for emergencies but this prairie dog had already dug in near by.
by PDP
Similar Species: White-tailed and Utah prairie dogs have white in center of tail rather than grayish. Black-tailed Prairie Dog’s tail has black tip.
Breeding: 1 litter per year of 1–8 young, born in early May; gestation 27–33 days, pups emerge mid June.
Habitat: Short grass prairies in high mountain valleys and plateaus of southern Rocky Mountains at elevations of 6,000–12,000’ (1,800–3,600 m). Habitat is much more variable topographically and vegetationally than that of the Black-tailed Prairie Dog, which occurs at lower elevations.
Range: Southeastern Utah, south and central Colorado, northeast and central Arizona, and northwest New Mexico.
Discussion: The Gunnison’s Prairie Dog, like the rest of its kin, is active only when the sun is up, and is most energetic near dawn and dusk. It is constantly vigilant while aboveground, often sitting upright on its hind feet while it pursues its main activities: mainly feeding, but also grooming and playing. This animal generally is seen from April to October. It hibernates (torpor) in winter, living on stored body fat. It usually emerges in April, though they will emerge earlier if the winter is mild. Gunnison’s Prairie Dog feeds on green vegetation, particularly grasses, but also forbs, sedges, and shrubs, as well as a few insects. Its colonies are generally smaller and less closely knit than those of other prairie dogs, resembling ground squirrel aggregations, with fewer than 50 to 100 individuals. The animals in the colony cannot always see one another because their habitat is in such varied and patchy terrain, which is caused in part by human activities. On flat ground and where this prairie dog is protected colonies are much larger and more extensive. This species’ burrow systems can be up to 80 feet long and 16 feet deep in well-established colonies. Burrows can have food storage, flood, nesting, communal and excrement chambers. Territoriality is not well developed in Gunnison’s Prairie Dog, although old males may defend small areas outside their burrows. Mother-young relationships form the basic social unit. Newborns remain in the burrow about three weeks before emerging and are weaned about three weeks later. The female sits almost straight up on her haunches to nurse her young, who suckle either pectoral or inguinal (hind leg) nipples. Gunnison’s alarm call, distinctive among prairie dogs, is important to the survival and structure of the community. It is a series of high-pitched barks of one or two distinct syllables, with the second syllable lower and more guttural. The call may be repeated frequently and may continue for as long as half an hour. It increases in intensity as danger escalates, and ends in chatter as the animal enters its burrow. Predators include American Badgers, Coyotes, weasels, and raptors. Plague (Yersina pestis), carried by fleas, can decimate populations of this species. However, humans, through their extermination programs, are the chief enemy of Gunnison’s Prairie Dog.
by PDP
Prairie dogs are important to their environment in three ways:
For more facts, visit 101 Questions and Answers about Prairie Dogs and Environmental Change and the Prairie Dog
by PDP
Populations: The Ultimate Underdog
Gunnison’s Prairie Dogs are a White-tailed subspecies, which inhabits the four corners region. Once ubiquitous, current estimates place their populations at about 2 – 5% of their former range.
Two of the five species of prairie dogs are protected under the Endangered Species Act. There may be fewer Utah Prairie Dogs than Siberian Tigers. Black-tailed Prairie Dogs, the most numerous due their large range, are considered a Candidate for Threatened Listing. They meet all criteria for listing, but the Fish and Wildlife Service does not yet have the resources to enforce the listing, so they were placed on the Candidate List in 2000. They are on about 1% of their former range.
Ecological Importance: A ‘keystone species.’
Prairie dogs are a ‘keystone species,’ or most important element, of their environment.
Up to 160 other species benefit from their presence.
They enrich their environment in three ways:
The Black-footed Ferret is the most endangered mammal on our continent and cannot live without prairie dogs under any circumstances.
The Ferruginous Hawk, Swift Fox, Mountain Plover, and Burrowing Owl, are considered for or federally protected species that are considered dependent on prairie dogs. Several other species are considered dependent on prairie dogs. Several other species are considered dependent.
It’s a Dog’s Life: a Brief Description of the Prairie Dogs, Themselves
Prairie dogs possess, perhaps, the most complex language of any animal ever studied. Even more so than primates. They have over fifty primary ‘words’ and can communicate in sentences, distinguish color, speed, and level of threat through language.
Prairie dogs live in family units called ‘coteries’. They often ‘kiss’ in a familial identification. The animals commonly seen poised on their hindquarters are sentries, ever vigilant on the lookout for danger to themselves and families.
Prairie dogs are annual breeders. Fifty percent of females over two years of age will give birth to about 4 pups in the spring. There is tremendous juvenile mortality.
Prairie dogs live to be about five years old in the wild.
Burrows are complex, with separate ‘rooms’ for each function of life. Toilet chambers, sleeping quarters and storage typify a home burrow. Often, listening posts are created near the entrance for added protection. Some burrows have several entrances.
Gunnison’s and White-tailed Prairie Dogs hibernate, or go into torpor, as it is called, from about November through February. Black-tailed Prairie Dogs do not hibernate.