10 interesting facts about Prairie dogs
- Prairie dog is an extremely social animal. It lives in large colonies or towns that can go beyond hundreds of acres.
- Prairie dogs are often identified as pests and exterminated from agricultural properties because they are capable of damaging crops, as they clear the immediate area around their burrows of most vegetation.
- There was a huge prairie dog settlement in 1900, which extended about 100 miles by 250 miles on the high plains of Texas. It is estimated that about 400 million prairie dogs dwelled in the settlement!
- Prairie dog habitat has been impacted by direct removal by ranchers and farmers as well as the more obvious encroachment of urban development which has greatly reduced their populations.
- A burrow made by prairie dog has defined nurseries, sleeping quarters, and toilets. Moreover, the rodent also features listening posts near exits, so that it can easily keep a check on the movements of predators outside.
- In 2010, Professor Con Slobodchikoff, a biologist from Northern Arizona University, has discovered that the prairie dogs can chat with advanced 'language', their distinct squeaky bark, which contains a great deal of information that can describe colours, size, directions of travel, speed and even different types of predator.
- Since it is a social animal, prairie dog lives in family groups that include a male, 2 to 4 females and the young children. The members cooperate with each other for food, chase off other dogs, groom one another and even greet each other with a kiss.
- The young ones of a prairie dog are blind and furless at birth and need about 30 days of close nurturing by their mother. In addition, they are very playful and can be seen dancing and playing near their burrows.
- A prairie dog uses its dichromatic color vision to identify predators and gives an alert to others with a special high-pitched warning call. The call is made once again, when the danger is gone.
- The prairie dog is a diurnal mammal that searches for grasses, roots, and seeds in the daylight.
