Lightning Tree has been slumbering under the snow like these prairie dogs, but looks like they're telling us that it's time to wake up and bask in the strengthening sun!
We are surrounded by these funny, adorable creatures and I have become more and more fond of them. Whenever I paint or draw something I always find that my observations are sharpened and my connection is deepened. I did some journaling about them in my nature journal last fall and found out that they are amazing creatures! Around here they’re thought of mostly as damn varmints who tear up pasture and make dangerous holes for horses and livestock. But it’s all in your perspective whether the problem is them or our expectations.
Prairie dogs are, of course, native to North America and some scientists say are a keystone species. Keystone species are species upon which other animals and even the ecosystem itself depend on.
Our local Little Dog of the Prairie (as Ted and I like to call them) is the Gunnison’s prairie dog and they are a keystone species for our sagebrush ecosystem. As a result of their extensive burrowing, the soil is aerated, rainwater and snow penetrate the soil more, and organic matter is added. They harvest the woody plants near their burrows and keep the grasses cut short both because of foraging and to maintain sightlines for safety. Feeding on the grasses stimulates new growth and keeping the woody plants down creates open areas, both of which support increased diversity of animal and plant life.
And guess what! They are excellent neighbors if you are a creature that needs to spend time below ground. Their burrows are used in summer to cool off and in winter to stay warm by skunks, rabbits, badgers, foxes, owls, snakes, reptiles and amphibians, insects, and more! These animals opportunistically take over abandoned burrows, but they will often also join the prairie dogs in their homes! Can you imagine the winter parties under the snow?? This is a photo of cottontail rabbit tracks going in and out of a prairie dog burrow in deep winter. The prairie dogs are fast asleep.
Prairie dogs are also obviously prey for many predators including foxes, the endangered black-footed ferret, badgers, coyotes, hawks, eagles, and bobcats. There’s neat stories about badgers and coyotes hunting prairie dogs cooperatively!
Cottontail rabbit tracks going in and out of an active prairie dog burrow.
Historical range for the North American prairie dog subspecies
Though humans often think of the prairie dog as a nuisance, from the perspective of the little dogs, we are much worse than that. Though they were historically one of the most abundant mammals in North America (one colony was estimated to be over 400 million little dogs!), due to intentional eradication through shooting and poisoning, habitat loss, and exotic diseases (like the black plague!), their population has been reduced by 95% and recent estimates put their population at 10-20 million individuals.
So I cherish the little dogs of the prairie who pop in and out of their burrows, stand sentry for their communities, trundle about in the fall with their hard earned fat stores, chase each other around as tiny pups in the spring, and send out their famous tiny barking alarms at anyone who moves in their territories.
Annika Fae, March 2023
See 'em lined up along the berm of the irrigation ditch! They are quite vigilant, no doubt due to the two hawks that are staking out their nest in the bare cottonwood tree on the left.
Look at those little doots! Prairie dogs, like all rodents show 4 toes in their fronts and 5 toes in their hinds. Can you imagine how they move from looking at their tracks?
Prairie Dog tracks in the snow just outside a burrow. This was their first day awake after their long winter nap!
Everyone is coming up to enjoy the late winter sun
coolio ted