The Prairie Dog lives upon and just under the surface of the ground. It is not a climbing animal, but devotes its surplus energies to burrowing. It is of social disposition and is always to be found in colonies often of large size. It is related, on the one hand, to the Spermophile, and, on the other, to the Marmot, but may be easily distinguished from either of these by the markings outlived above. The name "Dog" as applied to this animal is, of course, inaccurate, as it is a true rodent.
Ever since the first explorers penetrated the Western plains, these sociable little beasts have been known and liked, despite their propensity for mischief. Today as one looks out of the car window, he will be rewarded by seeing a little inquisitive head pop out of a hole, or a sentinellike animal sitting gravely at his threshold as though monarch of all he surveyed. In commenting upon this trait, an early explorer says: "This interesting little animal never fails to attract the attention of every traveller on the Western plains; and an approach to one of their settlements, after long and dreary marches, is always hailed with delight as a pleasant change from the monotony of lifeless scenes to one of cheerful activity and motion. Such occasions excite a certain degree of pleasure in every one as he watches the motions of these curious creatures as they at first assemble in numbers, as if in grave consultation in regard to the intrusion of strangers upon their quiet domain. Upon the too near approach of apparent danger, suddenly the assembly is dispersed, each one retires to his respective home and standing upon the edge of his den, utters his peculiar bark as if in defiance; and then every one disappears suddenly and every voice is hushed when a single gun is discharged."
Prairie Dogs are easily introduced into almost any open country where the ground is dry, but they are very difficult to exterminate. They breed readily in captivity, and usually produce four young at a birth. In 1899, says Dr. Hornaday, a free colony was established in the New York Zoological Park in the Antelope Range, where it existed for two years, and its saucy members attracted far more attention than those confined in the fenced village. Knowing that guns and dogs were not allowed in the Park, they often permitted visitors to pass within six feet of them. But it proved impossible to keep those industrious diggers from spreading far beyond the limits fixed for them, and seriously damaging walks and lawns, so they were finally caught by placing sand in boxes over their burrows, and transferred to the village whose walls of solid masonry go down to bed rock.
It has been asserted that these interesting little fellows are able to locate their towns away from streams because they burrow down until they strike water, but Dr. Merriam points out the fact that in some regions they live where the nearest veins of artesian-well water are 1000 feet below the surface. As a matter of fact they can live without drinking.
The Prairie Dog flourishes over a wide extent of western country, from Texas, New Mexico and Arizona northward to the Canadian boundary. It is also at home on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Utah and Colorado and is most abundant in Montana, Wyoming and western Kansas. One of the largest Prairie Dog towns yet reported begins in Trego County, Kansas, and extends along the divide north of the Smoky Hill River, practically without a break, to Colorado, a total distance of about 100 miles. This town varies in width from half a mile to five miles, and on the top of the divide the nearest water is believed to be 350 feet below the surface.
It is not true, says Dr. Hornaday, that the Prairie Dog lives in peace and harmony in the same burrow with the rattlesnake and burrowing owl. The snakes would make short work of the young Dogs, and the latter would quickly kill the owl! When a quarrelsome rattler invades the home, the Prairie Dog speedily seeks quarters elsewhere. The burrowing owl is in the habit of taking refuge in abandoned burrows, and nesting in them, to save the labor of digging a burrow for itself. In the Philadelphia Zoological Garden Mr. A.E. Brown once tried the experiment of associating burrowing owls and Prairie Dogs. The owls were immediately killed and torn to pieces.
In the "Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture" for, Dr. C. Hart Merriam publishes a valuable paper on "The Prairie Dog of the Great Plains," which contains the following illustrated description:
"The holes go down for some distance at a very steep angle' and then turn at nearly a right angle and continue horizontally, rising somewhat toward the end. The nests are inside the chambers connecting with the horizontal part of the burrow, and usually, if not always, at a somewhat higher level. Recently, at Alma, Nebraska, W.H. Osgood dug out a burrow, of which he made a careful diagram, accompanied by measurements.
"In this case the burrow went down nearly vertically to a depth of fourteen and one-half feet below the surface when it turned abruptly and became horizontal. The horizontal part was thirteen and one-half feet in length. One-third of the horizontal part and two old nests and passage ways were plugged with black earth brought in from the surface layer, which was very different from the light-colored clayey earth in which the greater part of the burrow lay.
"Four or five feet below the entrance was a short side passage probably used as a place in which to turn around when the animals come back to take a look at the intruder before finally disappearing in the bottom of their burrows. It was also used, apparently, as a resting-place where they bark and scold after retreating from the mouths of the burrows. As elsewhere noted, they are often heard barking after they have gone in.
"The burrow was opened the day after bisulphide of carbon had been used for destroying the animals, and the material carrying the bisulphide was found at the bottom of the vertical part, just where the horizontal part turns off.
"The Prairie Dog has several natural enemies which, when not interfered with by man, usually serve to hold its members in check. The most inveterate of these appear to be the coyote, badger, ferret and rattlesnake."
