Prairie Dogs Are Not Actually Dogs
Prairie Dogs are simply intriguing. In the grasslands across the central and western United States, their intricate underground colonies—called prairie dog towns—create shelter for jackrabbits, toads, and rattlesnakes.“These animals support at least 136 other species through their various activities,” said Kristy Bly, a WWF senior wildlife conservation biologist.
These chubby animals are not only cute but extraordinarily fascinating. Here are some prairie dog facts!
1. Their entire mating season is just an hour long
Hopefully, they can find the right partner in enough time.
2. Their vocabulary is more advanced than any other animal language that’s been decoded
To a human ear, prairie dogs’ squeaky calls sound simple and repetitive. But recent research has found that those calls can convey incredibly descriptive details. Prairie dogs can alert one another, for example, that there’s not just a human approaching their burrows, but a tall human wearing the color blue.
3. Prairie Dogs Arent Dogs. They’re cousins of the squirrels in your backyard
All five species of prairie dog belong to the Sciuridae (squirrel) family. Their other biological relatives include groundhogs, chipmunks, marmots, and woodchucks. There’s no “dog” in them!
4. They’re threatened by the same plague that caused the Black Death in Europe
In the late 1800s, the bubonic plague entered North America via rats aboard European ships. It quickly spread through wild mammal populations, including black-tailed prairie dogs in the northern Great Plains. The disease is still rampant in large tracts of the region and tends to wipe out entire prairie dog colonies when it strikes.
Read more about all things prairie dogs here.
