Prairie Dog Hunting Info >> Prairie Dog Hunts

- Two species of the prairie dogs are protected by The Endangered Species. The black-tailed prairie dog has been granted a “Warranted but Precluded” Threatened species listing which with other words means that biologically they must be protected but the government can’t afford to protect them as they should.

- Prairie dogs inhabit less than 1% of their former range. In New Mexico is the smallest remaining acreage of prairie dogs across their historical range. The most optimistic estimates on Gunnison’s populations state that they inhabit approximately 2% of their former region which means that their overall numbers are incredibly low since their range is way smaller than that of the black-tailed specie. A very surprising large percentage of the prairie dogs live in urban environments.

- The prairie dog is also known as a keystone piece due to the reason that more than 160 vertebrates are associated with big prairie dog colonies and above 80 in “urban” colonies. The black-footed Ferret (which is considered by many the most endangered animal) can’t live without prairie dogs. Other species that greatly depend on prairie dogs are: the Burrowing Owl, the Mountain Plover, the Swift Fox and the Ferruginous Hawk. Many biologists affirm that the prairie dog is the most important mammal on the earth.

- The prairie dog is important to its environment in three ways:
1. It is the primary prey on rangelands and their colonies provide a greater density of other prey species.
2. The prairie dog provides shelters or even homes for lots of species.
3. The mammal has a positive effect on vegetation and soil conditions.

- The prairie dogs are annual breeders and about half of the females over two years give birth to 3 up to 5 pups every spring. The gestation period for prairie dogs is between 28 and 32 days. Most of the pups won’t live for more than 6 months.

- They are extremely sociable animals and posses the most complex language of any animal that was ever studied. They display different calls for coyotes, raptors, humans and even humans that carry guns. Besides all these calls, they have other calls, totaling over 50 unique “words”. Grooming, hugging and kissing are regular pastimes for a prairie dog.

- The prairie dogs towns have independent rooms for babysitting, eating and sleeping. They also have a special room for sitting.

- The prairie dogs control the populations of many weed species like mesquite.

- The mammal is primarily a herbivore and they feed on grasses. In the fall they eat broadleaf forbs. They have 22 teeth and eat various native U.S. plants like: roots, grasses, forbs, blossoms. In some cases, they eat insects but they feed primarily on grasses.

- These mammals are very susceptible to a flea-borne disease - bubonic plague. There are small chances of contracting this disease from a prairie dog but the effects it has on the specie are huge : it can eliminate an entire colony.

- The prairie dog doesn’t need to drink water because they get the water they need from the leafy foods they eat.

- These animals sleep during the wintertime and eat a lot of food before in order to store up fat for the winter.

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