prairie dog

a kind of animal – mammal – rodent – four-legged – (mostly) grass-eating – related to the squirrel family – stout body with thick little rough (grizzly) pale yellowish-brown fur, broad round head with a short pointed muzzle, very short ears, clear eyes, sharp teeth, round body, short legs with strong claws, 3-5 inch-long tail; size: 1-1½ feet long, 3-4 inches tall at the shoulder, and weight: 500 grams to 2 Kg; feeds mostly on (eats) plant matter (occasionally insects); lives for 3-4 years (some individuals live for 10 years); about 5 species, native to North America – from Canada to Mexico

male ~~ boar

female ~~ sow

baby ~~ pup

group ~~ coterie; town (large groups – ‘colony’; ‘prairie dog town’)

voice (call) ~~ bark (warning call) {& different calls for different purposes}

home ~~ burrow

Some common prairie dogs are: black-tailed prairie dog, white-tailed prairie dog, Gunnison prairie dog, Utah prairie dog, Mexican prairie dog

Special Features:

Prairie dogs are nick named “master underground town builders” because they dig very complicated burrows deep underground, called ‘burrow towns’, with separate chambers (rooms) for babies (nurseries), living quarters and even toilets!

A ‘burrow town’ with its warrens of burrows excavated in Texas spread across 25,000 squire miles (65,000 squire kilometres) and housed an estimated 400 million animals!!

Prairie dogs are very social animals, though the males chase away the other males from their ‘home burrow’, they keep in touch with one another by regular visits in the non-breeding seasons.  They greet each other with their ‘muzzle touching’ gestures called ‘prairie dog kisses’!!

Prairie dogs are very alert all the time: when a colony prairie dogs is out finding food, some stand watch – at the entrances of the burrows and on a high position, and give out a warning bark on seeing any predator (= an animal that tries to kill and eat them) so that the others rush into the nearest burrow!!

Some species of prairie dogs hibernate (= go into a long deep sleep when the weather is bad) but some stay awake but live on the fat stored in their bodies.

Prairie dogs’ burrows are used by other animals, and are useful for humans by letting the rain water get into the soil and the water bed below.  However, prairie dogs are considered pests in some areas where there is some human agricultural activity as they dig their burrows and clear the plants and other plant matter around their burrows!

Some organisations used prairie dogs as their mascots.

Figures of Speech:

prairie dogging (noun & verb)  =  all the employees of a large office crowded in tiny individual cubicles; and when most of them pop up their heads over the partitions of their cubicles to find out what is going on when there is some sudden noise or commotion in one corner of the office, or when the bossing is chiding one them loudly

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