Defenders of Wildlife
DESCRIPTION:
About the size of a rabbit, prairie dogs are fast mammals that dwell underground. They have a slick brown or clay-colored coat with black-tipped hairs and a black-tipped tail. The underside of the prairie dog is a light tan color. They have short legs and sharp claws to help them dig their homes.
SIZE:
12-15 inches with a 3-4 inch tail Prairie dogs weigh 2-4 pounds.
RANGE:
United States and Mexico.
HABITAT:
Prairie dogs are found primarily in prairies.
FOOD:
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. They are also resourceful rodents, and their underground tunnels to protect them from predators. Prairie dogs are organized into coteries. Each coterie usually consists of one male, three or four females, and several young. As many as two thousand prairie dogs may live in one prairie dog town. They are active during the day above ground and sleep in nests built underground at night.
OFFSPRING:
Each female in a coterie produces one litter annually after a gestation period of 34 to 37 days. The average litter size is two to ten pups, although typically about three pups appear above ground after five to six weeks.
LIFESPAN:
Typically, prairie dogs survive three to four years in the wild, although they have been known to reach eight years in captivity.
THREATS:
Prairie dogs often competed with farmers for grazing land. Farmers and ranchers have been known to poison prairie dogs because of the perceived threat to crops and livestock. When in danger, prairie dogs will stand on their hind legs and alert the other prairie dogs in the town by yelping. Predators of the prairie dog are coyotes, badgers, ferrets, foxes, eagles and hawks. The decline in the population of the prairie dog has had a direct effect on the population of the endangered black-footed ferret. The ferret is also a prairie dwelling animal, and it depends on the prairie dog for survival.
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