Prairie dog is component of prairie stewardship

By Gary Raham
Nature Writer and Illustrator

Winter can be brutal on the prairie, which is why my wife and I prefer to be fair-weather hikers, invading spots like Coyote Ridge after the storms have passed and the prairie dogs are sitting on their mounds, scolding all intruders passing through their domain.

The shortgrass prairie truly is their domain. Their activities shape the land and vegetation in ways that perpetuate prairie habitat. As a so-called keystone species, they lock the arch of prairie life into a stable, self-replicating pattern.

In the days of Lewis and Clark, they ruled a domain that covered one quarter of the lower 48 states plus large hunks of southern Canada. This mega prairie held 60 to 70 million bison, 50 million pronghorn, and an estimated 5 billion of what William Clark originally called "ground rats." (They are, technically, a kind of ground squirrel.) On a cold and blustery September day in 1804, Clark and Capt. Meriwether Lewis topped a rise in what is now Boyd County, Neb., and discovered a "village of small animals that burrow in the ground."

Clark wrote: "Killed one and caught one alive by pouring a great quantity of water in his hole. We attempted to dig to the beds of one of those animals. After digging 6 feet, found by running a pole down that we were not half way to his lodge. We found two frogs in the hole, and killed a dark rattlesnake near with a ground rat in him (those rats are numerous). The village of those animals covered about four acres of ground on a gradual descent of a hill and contains great numbers of holes, on the top of which those little animals sit erect making a whistling noise, and when alarmed step into their hole."

This first encounter with prairie dogs set the tone for human interaction with them - wonder and fascination mixed with an ample measure of annoyance when they compete with or "out-ornery" us.

The prairie dogs' extensive building expertise gives them adequate shelter from the cold to remain active all winter. They are not hibernators, although they will stay below ground for extended periods when it's really cold.

They're fair-weather admirers of the prairie, just like us. They build mounds to stand on when weather is good and close-crop nearby grasses and forbs so that they can see invaders easily.

As Clark observed, other critters make use of their burrows, but not only frogs and rattlesnakes. Creatures as varied as mice, voles, rabbits, ground squirrels and owls take advantage of prairie dog industry.

Yes, owls. Burrowing owls, brown with a white-barred chest and yellow eyes, expand abandoned prairie dog tunnels and line them with a little horse manure, if available - most likely to mask their own scent. They then sit quietly for long periods waiting for an unsuspecting rodent to venture too close. They can also perform a pretty good rattlesnake imitation if something more dangerous comes by.

All told, some 170 species depend on the activities of prairie dogs. Ferrets, weasels, coyotes, badgers, foxes, eagles and hawks eat them. Bison, pronghorns and other grazers find that the greatest variety of grasses and forbs grow in the disturbed area around prairie dog towns. Mountain lions prey on the grazers and the lesser predators. Dung beetles, fly larvae and rove beetles go crazy over their dung. Huge networks of other insects; the flowers they eat, live on or pollinate; and the creatures that eat them contribute to the list.

The "whistles" that Clark heard can convey a lot more information than a simple alarm, too. Professor Con Slobodchikoff of Northern Arizona University believes they have one of the most sophisticated of animal languages. His work has shown variations in prairie dog language based on a predator's species, size, shape, color, speed of travel and level of threat. He's recorded different responses to "harmless" humans and humans carrying weapons and an ability to remember which of two humans carried weapons in the past. Prairie dogs also have the endearing habit of kissing upon meeting each other, apparently to see if the other guy has the right scent.

Before a person runs out to dig a tunnel and join prairie dog society, however, he or she should know that these rodents can become seasoned killers when stuck in the tunnels too long during long, cold winters. Mother prairie dogs practice infanticide quite regularly, both on related and unrelated babies, apparently when they get desperate for food. Later, in the spring, they can be quite generous in nursing foreign pups. Even this probably serves a selfish purpose: the more neighbors you have, the less likely a predator will focus its attention on you.

Prairie dogs no longer oversee 25 percent of North America. In 200 years, humans have contracted prairie dog habitat to 1 percent of its former extent, building houses and businesses and replacing bison with cows and lawnmowers.

Now, all we have to do is see if we can keep the system running for at least 10,000 years and repeat the performance of these feisty little "ground rats" - something to think about, at least, on sunny winter hikes along the foothills.