I Love Prairie Dog. He Is Like A Brother To Me. I Hope They Get Well Soon

i love prairie dog. he is like a brother to me. i hope they get well soon

hi! love what you do! can we hear more about the massive black tailed prairie dog colony?

Sure!

So, for a bit of context, black-tailed prairie dogs organize themselves first into coteries, or small family groups usually consisting of one adult male, three to four adult females, and pups. Up to a dozen of these coteries make up a 'ward' centered around a natural landmark like a hill; these wards are like neighborhoods, in which coteries are aware of each other but don't interact much. Sometimes a colony consists of a single ward, but more often there will be multiple wards that make up a colony (also called a town). Towns can house miles of interconnected burrows and tunnels which its inhabitants use to move underground.

The largest of these colonies was first described by naturalist Vernon Bailey in the early 1900s. At the time, the colony extended from the city of San Angelo to Clarendon-- a distance of about 430 km (250 mi). Bailey described the inhabitants of the town as "...comparatively tame, standing at the entrance to their hole, flipping their tails, and steadily barking." He also noted that, "When properly prepared and cooked, they are a delicacy."

Unfortunately, disease and extermination regimes have decimated black-tailed prairie dog populations, and it's now estimated that less than 10 million live in the state of Texas.