Home on the Range? The Disappearing Prairie Dog
PD warrens are divided into coteries - a kind of single-family dwelling unit - with interconnecting tunnels to other chambers in the community. All the dogs take turns acting as sentinel, standing alert, on hind legs, at the entrance to the town. The little dogs greet each other with hugs and kisses and have a very playful temperament.
More and more human communities, alarmed at the disappearance of the lovable creatures, are "adopting" dog towns of their own. Abilene, Texas, for example has been fostering a small, controlled dog town in the nearby Redbud Park since about 1970, and are so proud of their prairie dogs they named the town's baseball team after them.
Still, there's no question that the future of prairie dogs depends on our willingness to protect them. In the old days, when a prairie dog town's population became too dense, young dogs would pick up and move out to found a new town where the grass was greener, so to speak. Today, a lone dog leaving town is unlikely to find unspoiled territory to establish a new homestead in. In fact, he's lucky to escape a quick demise in the jaws of a coyote or free-ranging dogs or under the wheels of a high-speed vehicle. Most dog towns are now on public lands or under the protection of benevolent human townships like Abilene.
Another source of hope for the disappearing dogs is people who are adopting the homeless pups as family pets. According to Antilley, prairie dogs have become very popular pets as far away as Japan. Their playful, gregarious, gentle nature makes them easy to "tame," although, like all rodents, they can be full of mischief and energy and love to chew on everything in sight.
To find out more about these engaging rodents, you can take a tour through the on-line prairie dog community. Here are some of the sites you won't want to miss:
Mischief's Wonderful World, http://www.geocities.com/~mischief_pd/. Mischief, a Seattle PD, will tell you all about his life and adventures. Mischief is an long-time resident of cyberspace and he maintains one of the best PD sites around.
The National Wildlife Federation, http://www.nwf.org/nwf/grasslands/ has lots of information and facts about PDs and their importance to the grasslands and other endangered species. You'll also find information about the NWF's petition to protect PDs and can fill out a form to help save their habitat.
Chip Chip's Little Block on the Web, http://www.geocities.com/~chipchip/index...
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