Difference between revisions of "Prairie dog" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
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''[[Utah Prairie Dog|Cynomys parvidens]]''
 
''[[Utah Prairie Dog|Cynomys parvidens]]''
 
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'''Prairie dogs''' is the common name for any of the social, burrowing, [[North America]]n [[rodent]]s comprising the [[genus]] '''''Cynomys''''' of the [squirrel]] family ([[Sciuridae]]), characterized by a stout body with brown fur, short legs, short tail, and barking cries. Five extant species of ''Cynomys'' are recognized: black-tailed (''C. ludovicinus''), white-tailed (''C. leucurus''), Gunnison (''C. gunnisoni''), Utah (''C. parvidens''), and Mexican (''C. mexicanus'') prairie dogs. Extant prairie dogs are found in the [[United States]], [[Canada]], and [[Mexico]]. As ground squirrels, they are closely related to [[chipmunk]]s and [[marmot]]s (including the [[groundhog]]).
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In the black-tailed prairie dog, colonies or towns may extend miles, with 1000s of individuls
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rattlesnkes, burrowing owls
  
The '''prairie dogs''' ('''''Cynomys''''') are small, burrowing [[rodent]]s native to the [[grassland]]s of North America. There are five different species of prairie dogs: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison, Utah, and Mexican prairie dogs. They are a type of squirrel. On average, these stout-bodied rodents will grow to be between 12 and 16 inches (30 and 40 cm) long, including the short tail and weigh between 1-3 pounds. They are found in the [[United States]], [[Canada]], and [[Mexico]]. In [[Mexico]], prairie dogs are primarily found in the northern states which are the southern end of the great plains: northeastern [[Sonora]], north and northeastern [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], northern [[Coahuila]], northern [[Nuevo León]], and northern [[Tamaulipas]]; in the U.S., they range primarily west of the [[Mississippi River]], though they have also been introduced in a few eastern locales.
 
  
:'''Groundhog''' or '''woodchuck''' is the common name for a [[North American]] burrowing [[marmot]], ''Marmota monax'', of the [[rodent]] family [[Sciuridae]], characterized by
 
  
 
==Overview==
 
==Overview==
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Sciurids, or squirrels, like all rodents, are noted for their [[tooth|teeth]]. They have a pair of large incisors on the upper and one on the lower jaw that grow continuously and need to be kept short and sharpened by frequent gnawing.  
 
Sciurids, or squirrels, like all rodents, are noted for their [[tooth|teeth]]. They have a pair of large incisors on the upper and one on the lower jaw that grow continuously and need to be kept short and sharpened by frequent gnawing.  
 +
 +
On average, these stout-bodied rodents will grow to be between 12 and 16 inches (30 and 40 cm) long, including the short tail and weigh between 1-3 pounds. 
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 +
In [[Mexico]], prairie dogs are primarily found in the northern states which are the southern end of the great plains: northeastern [[Sonora]], north and northeastern [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], northern [[Coahuila]], northern [[Nuevo León]], and northern [[Tamaulipas]]; in the U.S., they range primarily west of the [[Mississippi River]], though they have also been introduced in a few eastern locales.
  
  

Revision as of 00:57, 21 December 2008

Prairie dogs
Fossil range: Late Pliocene to Recent
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Suborder: Sciuromorpha
Family: Sciuridae
Tribe: Marmotini
Genus: Cynomys
Rafinesque, 1817
Species

Cynomys gunnisoni
Cynomys leucurus
Cynomys ludovicianus
Cynomys mexicanus
Cynomys parvidens

Prairie dogs is the common name for any of the social, burrowing, North American rodents comprising the genus Cynomys of the [squirrel]] family (Sciuridae), characterized by a stout body with brown fur, short legs, short tail, and barking cries. Five extant species of Cynomys are recognized: black-tailed (C. ludovicinus), white-tailed (C. leucurus), Gunnison (C. gunnisoni), Utah (C. parvidens), and Mexican (C. mexicanus) prairie dogs. Extant prairie dogs are found in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. As ground squirrels, they are closely related to chipmunks and marmots (including the groundhog).

In the black-tailed prairie dog, colonies or towns may extend miles, with 1000s of individuls


rattlesnkes, burrowing owls


Overview

he groundhog belongs to the group of rodents known as marmots. The marmots comprise the genus Marmota and are characteristically stocky, short-legged and diurnal, and commonly short-furred and burrowing. They are part of the rodent family Sciuridae, or squirrels, a family that includes ground squirrels, tree squirrels, and flying squirrels. The marmots, and thus the groundhog, are part of the ground squirrels, and are generally large ground squirrels. The ground squirrel taxon also including groups such as the chipmunks and prairie dogs.

Marmot is the common name for the stocky, short-legged, diurnal, and typically short-furred and burrowing ground squirrels comprising the genus Marmota of the rodent family Sciuridae (squirrels). Those members of Marmota most often referred to as marmots tend to live in mountainous areas such as the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada in the United States, the European Alps, and Northern Canada. However, the North American groundhog or woodchuck (Marmota monax) is also properly called a marmot.
armots are members of the squirrel family, Scuridae, which also includes flying squirrels, tree squirrels, and ground squirrels such as the chipmunk and prairie dog. Sciurids, like all rodents, are noted for their teeth. They have a pair of large incisors on the upper and one on the lower jaw that grow continuously and need to be kept short and sharpened by frequent gnawing.
There are diverse taxonomic schemes for classifying members of the Sciuridae family. Some place the tree squirrels and ground squirrels together in the subfamily Sciruinae and the flying squirrels in the subfamily Pteromyinae (Lurz 2004). Some place the tree squirrels together with the flying squirrels as different tribes within the subfamily Sciurinae, while placing ground squirrels in the subfamily Xerinae.
Within the ground-dwelling squirrels, Karels (2004) (who places them within Sciruinae) recognizes three tribes: (1) Xerini (African ground squirrels and a central-Asian ground squirrel); (2) Marmotini (marmots, antelope squirrels, prairie dogs, ground squirrels, and Chinese rock squirrels); and (3) Tamiini (the chipmunks).
  • Karels, T. 2004. Squirrels and relatives IV. Ground squirrels. Pages 143 to 161 in B. Grzimek et al., Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition, vol. 16, mammals V. Detroit, MI: Thomson/Gale. ISBN 0787657921.

Sciurids, or squirrels, like all rodents, are noted for their teeth. They have a pair of large incisors on the upper and one on the lower jaw that grow continuously and need to be kept short and sharpened by frequent gnawing.

On average, these stout-bodied rodents will grow to be between 12 and 16 inches (30 and 40 cm) long, including the short tail and weigh between 1-3 pounds.

In Mexico, prairie dogs are primarily found in the northern states which are the southern end of the great plains: northeastern Sonora, north and northeastern Chihuahua, northern Coahuila, northern Nuevo León, and northern Tamaulipas; in the U.S., they range primarily west of the Mississippi River, though they have also been introduced in a few eastern locales.


Etymology

Prairie Dog closeup.

Prairie dogs are named for their habitat and warning call, which sounds similar to a dog's bark. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the name is attested from at least 1774.[1] The 1804 journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition note that in September 1804, they "discovered a Village of an animal the French Call the Prairie Dog" [2]

Its genus, Cynomys, derives from the Greek for "mouse dog."

Biology and behavior

Kissing Prairie Dogs
Fighting Prairie Dogs

The highly social prairie dogs live in large colonies or "towns" – collections of prairie dog families that can span hundreds of acres. Families usually consist of 1 male and 2 to 4 females living in a strict social hierarchy. [3] Prairie dog pups reach sexual maturity at about 3 years of age, and after their third winter the dominant male in a given family will drive them away, forcing them to establish their own families on the edges of the colony. The dominant male will defend the family's borders against rival prairie dogs, and disputes are resolved with fighting. Prairie dogs are also aggressive against predators such as badgers and snakes. Prairie dogs are social animals, however, and often make social visits with each other, and greet each other with a sort of kiss.[4]

Prairie dog tunnel systems help channel rainwater into the water table to prevent runoff and erosion, and can also serve to change the composition of the soil in a region by reversing soil compaction that can be a result of cattle grazing. The tunnels usually have several chambers. Tunnels can descend vertically as much as 5 meters (16 feet), and can extend laterally as much as 30 meters (100 feet). Prairie dogs line their burrows with grass to insulate them, and the earth excavated from the burrow is piled up in mounds around the burrow's entrance. The prairie dogs use these carefully maintained mounds as observation posts.[5]

The prairie dog is well adapted to predators. Using its dichromatic color vision, it can detect predators from afar and then alert other prairie dogs to the danger with a special, high-pitched call. Con Slobodchikoff and others assert that prairie dogs use a sophisticated system of vocal communication to describe specific predators.[3][6] Prairie dogs also trim the vegetation around their colonies, perhaps to remove any cover for predators.[7] Their burrows generally contain several routes of escape.[3]

The prairie dog is chiefly herbivorous, though it eats some insects. It feeds primarily on grasses and, in the fall, broadleaf forbs. Prairie dogs have 1-6 pups (babies) yearly, which are born blind and furless and need about 30 days of close nurturing from their mother.

Conservation status

A Black-tailed Prairie Dog forages above ground for grasses and leaves.

Ecologists consider this rodent to be a keystone species. They are an important prey species, being the primary diet in prairie species such as the black-footed ferret, the swift fox, the golden eagle, the badger, and the ferruginous hawk. Other species, such as the mountain plover and the burrowing owl, also rely on prairie dog burrows for nesting areas. Even grazing species such as bison, pronghorn and mule deer have shown a proclivity for grazing on the same land used by prairie dogs.[citation needed] It is believed that they prefer the vegetative conditions after prairie dogs have foraged through the area. Many creatures that prey on them are threatened.

However, prairie dogs are often identified as pests and exterminated from agricultural properties because they are capable of damaging crops, "causing undesirable spread of brush" [8] and clearing the immediate area around their burrows of most vegetation.[9]

A prairie dog and his hole.

As a result 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. The largest remaining community comprises Black-tailed Prairie Dogs. In spite of human encroachment, prairie dogs have adapted, continuing to dig burrows in open areas of western cities.

One common concern which led to the widespread extermination of prairie dog colonies was that their digging activities could injure horses [10] by fracturing their limbs. However, according to writer Fred Durso, Jr. of E Magazine, "after years of asking ranchers this question, we have found not one example."[11] Another concern is their susceptibility to bubonic plague[12]

In captivity

Prairie dogs are gaining popularity as zoo animals.

Until 2003, primarily black-tailed prairie dogs were collected from the wild for the exotic pet trade in Canada, the United States, Japan and Europe. They were removed from their underground burrows each spring, as young pups, with a large vacuum device. They are difficult to breed in captivity, but it has been done on several occasions. Removing them from the wild was a far more common method of supplying the market demand.

They can be difficult pets to care for, requiring regular attention and a very specific diet of grasses and hay. Each year they go into a period called rut that can last for several months, in which their personalities can drastically change, often becoming defensive or even aggressive. Despite their needs, prairie dogs are very social animals and come to almost seem like they treat humans as members of their colony, answering barks and chirps, and even coming when called by name.

In mid-2003, due to cross-contamination at a Madison, Wisconsin-area pet swap from an unquarantined Gambian pouched rat imported from Ghana, several prairie dogs in captivity acquired monkey pox, and subsequently a few humans were also infected. This led the CDC to institute an outright ban on the sale, trade, and transport of prairie dogs within the United States.[13] The disease was never introduced to any wild populations. The European Union also banned importation of prairie dogs in response.[14] While largely seen by exotic pet owners and vendors as unfair, the monkey pox scare was not the only zoonosis incident associated with prairie dogs.

Prairie dogs are also very susceptible to bubonic plague, and many wild colonies have been wiped out by it.[15][16][17][18] Also, in 2002 a large group of prairie dogs in captivity in Texas were found to have contracted tularemia.[19] The prairie dog ban is frequently cited by the CDC as a successful response to the threat of zoonosis.[citation needed]

Prairie dogs that were in captivity at the time of the ban in 2003 are allowed to be kept under a grandfather clause, but they may not be bought, traded, or sold and transport is only permitted to and from a veterinarian under properly quarantined procedures.

On September 8, 2008 the FDA & CDC rescinded the ban making it once again legal to capture, sell, and transport prairie dogs effective immediately. Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 174 Although the federal ban has been lifted, several States still have their own ban on prairie dogs in place.

Popular culture

A prairie dog prairie-dogging in the opening of its burrow

In companies that use large numbers of cubicles in a common space, employees sometimes use the term prairie dogging to refer to the action of several people simultaneously looking over the walls of their cubicles in response to a noise or other distraction. This action is thought to resemble the startle response of a group of prairie dogs.

A "surprised" prairie dog appeared in the internet video "Dramatic Chipmunk", which became a popular internet phenomenon.

The College of Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico uses the Prairie Dog as its athletic mascot.

Prairiemon, a digimon that looks like a prairie dog appears in Island of Lost Digimon.

They appear in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull film during the scenes in the desert.

Classification and first identification

The Black-tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) was first described by Lewis and Clark in 1804 during the Lewis and Clark Expedition.[2] Lewis described it in more detail in 1806, calling it the "barking squirrel."[20]

  • ORDER RODENTIA
  • Suborder Sciuromorpha
    • FAMILY SCIURIDAE (Squirrels, chipmunks, marmots and prairie dogs)
      • Subfamily Xerinae
        • Genus Cynomys
          • Gunnison's Prairie Dog, Cynomys gunnisoni
          • White-tailed Prairie Dog, Cynomys leucurus
          • Black-tailed Prairie Dog, Cynomys ludovicianus
          • Mexican Prairie Dog, Cynomys mexicanus
          • Utah Prairie Dog, Cynomys parvidens
        • About 14 other genera in subfamily

Additional Images

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  1. Online Etymology Dictionary, prairie.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition, "7th September Friday 1804. a verry Cold morning"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Cognition and communication in prairie dogs," The Cognitive Animal, 257-264, MIT Press.
  4. Mondadori, Arnoldo Ed. Great Book of the Animal Kingdom. Arch Cape Press, NY 1988 p271
  5. Mondadori, Arnoldo Ed. Great Book of the Animal Kingdom. Arch Cape Press, NY 1988 p271
  6. Scientist: Prairie Dogs Have Own Language. Retrieved 2006-04-18.
  7. Nebraska Game and Park Commission: the Prairie Dog.
  8. Mammals of Texas: Black-tailed Prairie Dog. Retrieved 2006-04-18.
  9. Slobodchikoff, C. N., Judith Kiriazis, C. Fischer, and E. Creef (1991). "Semantic information distinguishing individual predators in the alarm calls of Gunnison's prairie dogs", Animal Behaviour, 42, 713-719.
  10. http://www.kansasheritage.org/kssights/home/diary.htm The Diary of Virginia D. (Jones-Harlan) Barr b. 1866
  11. Open Season on “Varmints” For Saving Endangered Prairie Dogs, It’s the Eleventh Hour.
  12. Prairie Dogs - Desert USA
  13. CDC: Questions & Answers About Monkey Pox. Retrieved 2006-04-18.
  14. Born Free: EU bans rodent imports following monkeypox outbreak. Retrieved 2006-04-18.
  15. Plague and Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs.
  16. Biologist Studies Plague and Prairie Dogs.
  17. Endangered, Rescued, Now in Trouble Again.
  18. Hoogland, John L. (1995). The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog: Social Life of a Burrowing Mammal. University of Chicago Press, 80. ISBN 0-2263-5117-3. 
  19. AVMA: Tularemia Outbreak Identified In Pet Prairie Dogs. Retrieved 2006-04-18.
  20. Journal of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Tuesday July 1st 1806.

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