Prairie Dog
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Prairie Dog Wildlife Viewing
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Prairie Dog
Related Category: Vertebrate Zoology
short-tailed, ground-living rodent, genus Cynomys, of the squirrel family, closely related to the ground squirrels, chipmunks, and marmots.
Prairie dogs live in underground burrows, extensive warrens of tunnels and chambers marked by many mounds of packed earth at their surface entrances. Burrows have defined nurseries, sleeping quarters, and even toilets.
Prairie dog Rodent of the school family, that ranges from the West United States and North Mexico. Having a heavy body, short tailed with a small round face. Including a tail they measure 12 to 15in. long, their fur is short and course.
Prairie Dog
Genus: Cynomys
Species: ludovicianus
Imagine yourself on a huge open land with nothing to see but grass. when you look down you see a parade of little animals that almost look like squirrels. These are the prairie dogs.
Prairie dogs are small, stout-bodied, burrowing rodents with shallow cheek pouches native to the grasslands of North America. The name "prairie dog" came from their bark-like call, not from their appearance.
Prairie Dog Basics
Black-tailed prairie dogs are tough, social animals that live in and around burrows deep within the prairie soil. They grow to between 14 and 17 inches (350-425 mm) long and weigh about 2 to 3 pounds (.91-1.4 kg).
Prairie dogs are not dogs at all. They are small, burrowing rodents - a type of ground squirrel. Prairie dogs live in short-grass and mountain plains of the western USA and Mexico.
Prairie dogs weigh 2 to 3 pounds and measure 12 to 15 inches in length with a 3- to 4-inch tail. While grass is their favorite food, they also consume roots, seeds, and leafy plants seasonally.
Utah Prairie Dog
Relatives in same Genus
White-tailed Prairie Dog (C. leucurus)
Black-tailed Prairie Dog (C. ludovicianus) ...
Mexican Prairie Dog (Cynomys mexicanus). These marginal quality photos were taken in October, 1990 (first 2), and June, 1994 (images 3 and 4) near the village of Tanque de Emergencia. Coahuila, Mexico.
Prairie dogs are very social animals. They live as a group in prairie dog "towns" which range from one to over 1,000 acres. These towns are subdivided into wards that are arranged like counties within a state.
Prairie dogs eat only seven percent of a ranch's forage, however, eradication programs have been underway for decades in the American West.
Prairie dogs are very vocal animals. They have lots of different calls. They use yips, growls, chattering, barks and chirps. When there is danger, prairie dogs have a call that is a chirp and a wheeze.
Prairie dogs get their name from their shrill "barking" calls, which they use to communicate with each other.
Here at the Zoo
The Wild and the Children's Zoo are home to our black-tailed prairie dogs. Adopt a prairie dog.
Prairie Dog
Cynomys Iudovicianus
Range:
Found in prairies of central North America, from southern Canada to northernmost Mexico; range stretches west to foothills of Rockies.
Prairie dogs are colonial animals that live in complex networks of tunnels with multiple openings.
Prairie dog populations are comprised of several small "coteries," or harems, of two to eight females that are defended by a single dominant male.
Prairie dogs live in "towns" (colonies) which may contain hundreds of animals, depending on habitat availability. Currently many towns only include 50 or less animals. There is generally a single dominant male in the town.
References ...
Prairie dogs eat grasses, roots, seeds and leafy plants.
BEHAVIOR:
Prairie dogs live in underground communities. They dig tunnels and make a small mound around the entrance to the tunnel to prevent rain runoff from entering their home.
Black-tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus)
No photo of the Black-tailed Prairie Dog available.
White-tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys leucurus)
No photo of the White-tailed Prairie Dog available.
Prairie Dog Prairie Dogs are stout, burrowing rodents among the many varieties of ground squirrels. Settlers called them "dogs" and "sod poodles" because of their high-pitched, bark-like call.
Utah Prairie Dog
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Click to enlarge. (74 kb) ...
Utah prairie dog (Cynomys parvidens)
The rare, herbivorous, social Utah prairie dog is not, as its name suggests, a dog, but is in fact a ground-dwelling rodent of the... More 16 Images 0 videos ...
Prairie dogs are highly social animals, and live in large colonies which may contain hundreds or even thousands of individuals.
Prairie dogs have a sophisticated form of communication. Humans have been able to identify up to 11 different calls. They use physical contact, such as nuzzling and kissing as well as vocalization, such as barking a warning, to communicate.
Prairie dogs tend the plains around their towns and the bison share the bounty.
Habitats
Find out what these habitats are like and which other plants and animals live in them.
Prairie Dog
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Young prairie dogs are called kits.
In the past, prairie dogs were killed in large numbers because ranchers thought they were destroying rangeland and competing for food with cattle, ...
Type of prairie dog burrow may be important for occupancy by black-footed ferrets. Black-footed ferret litters near Meeteetse, Wyoming, were associated with mounded white-tailed prairie dog burrows, which are are less common than non-mounded burrows.
Food
: Prairie dogs make up over 90% of a black-footed ferret's diet. It is believed that ferrets will occasionally eat ground squirrels, other small rodents, cottontail rabbits, and birds.
OTHER NAME: Prairie Dog Owl
STATUS IN OKLAHOMA:
Formerly abundant summer resident in grasslands of central and western Oklahoma; largely exterminated prior to 1930.
A black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys) at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., looks out from a system of burrows, characteristically scanning the horizon.
Curlews forage in grasslands, cultivated fields, stubble fields, wet meadows, prairie dog (Cynomys) colonies, and occasionally along wetland margins (Silloway 1900, Salt and Wilk 1958, Johnsgard 1980, Shackford 1987).
These are usually burrows created by squirrels, prairie dogs, or other rodents and even turtles. Only rarely are they excavated by the owl itself (Florida).
An animal of North America's arid, shortgrass prairies, it lived primarily with, and on, prairie dogs.
Many of our continent's native wildlife species, including black-footed ferrets, prairie dogs, and burrowing owls, depended on massive herds of grazing bison to shape grasslands and create habitat. As commercial hunting and U.S.
North American Badgers (Taxidea taxus) are carnivorous and prey predominantly on pocket gophers (Geomyidae), ground squirrels (Spermophilus), moles (Talpidae), marmots (Marmota), prairie dogs (Cynomys), woodrats (Neotoma), kangaroo rats (Dipodomys), ...
Black-footed ferrets have been heavily impacted by the extermination of prairie dogs. Ranchers poisoned prairie dogs because of destruction (tunneling and foraging) to rangelands.
6%; prairie dogs, 2.6% and Pikas 1.3%; They also capture cottontails, Red Squirrels, Harvest Mice, House Mice, woodrats, Norway Rats, Black Rats, shrews and Least Weasels.
SAY's account, as presented in the Continuation of WILSON's American Ornithology, is as follows:--"In the Trans-Mississippian territories of the United States, the Burrowing Owl resides exclusively in the villages of the Marmot or Prairie Dog, ...
The burrowing owl prefers to summer in prairie dog colonies, using the burrows as nesting locations. Farmers and ranchers often dislike prairie dog colonies, fearing the honeycombs of holes and burrows pose a threat to livestock grazing in the area.
Protection of black-footed prairie dog towns is important, as Mountain Plovers often breed quite successfully when associated with prairie dogs. Under the guidelines of the U.S.
Usu nest in small colonies within ground squirrel and prairie dog colonies. Pair bond usu > 1 year.
(The name meerkat is the general Afrikaans term for mongoose.) Although they sometimes sit up like prairie dogs they are no relation. When stiffly sitting or standing in the exhibit, they are not begging, but are scanning for danger.
Some use prairie dog or badger holes, and some dig their own. The female usually lays seven to nine eggs, though 11 have been found in a single nest. The eggs are incubated for 28 to 30 days before they hatch.
Marmots are rodents, closely related to both ground squirrels and prairie dogs.
The only US holiday named after an animal, Groundhog Day, is named after a marmot.
Yellow-bellied marmots hibernate in burrows during the winter ...
The owl makes its own holes, but more commonly lives in abandoned prairie dog and squirrel holes. When the owl sees something approaching its home, it bobs up and down a few times, and then dives into its burrow.
American beavers are rodents, a subgroup of mammals that includes woodchucks, chipmunks, pocket gophers, squirrels and prairie dogs.
Some, such as Lambdopsalis from China, lived in burrows like prairie dogs, while others, such as the North American Ptilodus, climbed trees as squirrels do today.
During Processes of Life, students rotate through stations where they unearth skulls to compare and contrast; meet prairie dogs and discuss habitats and niches; measure an animal and chart its growth rate; ...
They prey on species such as rabbits, squirrels, gophers, prairie dogs, fawns of the deer family, antelope fawns, wild turkeys, reptiles and other smaller birds. Occasionally young domestic livestock are taken as food.
6 percent; miscellaneous (including sheep, goats, skunks, foxes, coyotes, beavers, prairie dogs and grasses), 4.7 percent - In certain areas they are known to kill and feed upon horses, particularly colts.
Binomial Name: Aquila chrysaetos
Distribution: North America, Eurasia and parts of Africa
Diet: Hares, rabbits, squirrels and prairie dogs
Body Length: 27.6-33.5 inches; Wingspan: 72.8-86.6 inches ...
There are about six species of ground squirrel still found mainly in America with the exception of the African ground squirrel which resembles a small meerkat. Marmots and prairie dogs can grow to up to 60 cm in length and live for more than 20 years ...
Snowy owls hunt for lemmings and other small rodents with lots of patience. They sit still and turn their head 270, looking for prey. Snowy owls also like to eat squirrels, rabbits, prairie dogs, rats, ducks, geese, and even other kinds of owls.
These can be as makeshift as a crevice in a rock or as built up as abandoned prairie dog burrows (usually abandoned when the snakes decide to move in.) During hibernation, several snakes may congregate together.
 See also: Squirrel, Burro, Coyote, Beaver, Ferret
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