What ARE Prairie DOGS?

well i have gained my citizenship to the lovely prairie dog town [Music] hence the name prairie dog small dogs of the prairie [Music] prairie dogs are medium-sized rodents related to squirrels that are native to north america now these are really interesting animals in that they create extensive underground burrows and are quite photogenic let's see if we can find some prairie dogs and let's see what we can learn about them okay everybody and welcome back to jack's world of wildlife now today i'm hoping to come upon a civilization of sorts a town if you will not a human town mind you but a town of dogs more specifically not dogs at all but prairie dogs the small squirrel-ish rodent native to the midwestern united states so hopefully we're able to show you these cute little squirrel cousins and hopefully we'll show you just how cute these little prairie dog towns are so we're gonna look around we're in a really good spot in south western oklahoma and i'm hoping that we can showcase some really cool behavior and some really cute prairie dogs so let's be keen let's be vigilant for these lovely creatures let's go [Music] brownies for the road [Music] okay so we have now happened upon a humble prairie dog town about a hundred feet behind me is a lovely colony of black-tailed prairie dogs now these little creatures are in the family cyride which is squirrels chipmunks groundhogs prairie dogs and marmots now these are really cool and nice looking rodents and some of my personal favorites so we're gonna try and get some cool shots to show you these beautiful beautiful prairie dogs now of course we realize that prairie dogs build extensive tunnel systems but how big can these systems become well one of the largest if not the largest prairie dog town ranged over 25 000 square miles and is estimated to have had over 400 million individuals is that not the craziest thing you've ever heard that is like a human-sized city it is so impressive what these small three pound rodents are capable of now where do they get this name prairie dog well prairie seems pretty self-explanatory these are prairie and grassland animals they need lots of open space with good loamy soil that they can tunnel through and then dog refers to the warning bark that these animals make when they see a predator or since danger and it's a little [Music] sounds like a dog bark to some maybe not to others so hence the name prairie dog small dogs of the prairie now these are actually related to ground squirrels and other rodents they are not canines so they are herbivores they're going to feed on lots of grasses and different types of vegetative material and they're going to use their extensive burrows as a way of surviving in the harsh climate filled with predators so they have extensive burrows that they both live in as shelter breed in and of course create shelter for other animals now they may not look like it but these prairie dogs are actually ecosystem engineers and what i mean by that is that these animals can shape the very landscape around them due to their extensive burrows and their vegetative feeding habits these animals can help bring a higher level of plant diversity within their own environment in fact we can see a direct causation of higher plant diversity in areas where these prairie dogs are present how cool is that now these prairie dogs rely on extensive burrows because these prairie grasslands that they're native to are full of all sorts of predators some of the main predators of these prairie dogs include coyotes badgers foxes all sorts of birds of prey and historically the very hard to find now black-footed ferret was a specialist of hunting these prairie dogs as it was able to snake down through these narrow tunnels after these defenseless rodents now despite their cute fluffy and round appearance these rodents can inflict a pretty nasty bite with those beautiful rodent incisors those are sharp scissor-like could cut right through the soft skin of a human or a predator if they need to defend themselves in such a manner now it's really cute to see these animals on high alert so we're going to try and get some footage of them looking out for predators or in this case world wildlife [Music] now living in a large colony means you probably have to get along well with others these prairie dogs have extensive social bonds that can spread out through a colony these animals can be seen interacting with one another grooming each other and even warning close relatives and family of danger first it's really really cool to see these cute little animals interacting with each other especially when they're grooming [Music] now these are some of my absolute favorite american animals my favorite american mammals and i haven't been able to showcase these yet so i'm super excited uh that we're able to film these really cool and interesting little animals for you all today so i'm going to try and get really close with the camera i think we've already gotten a few shots so far that are usable but i really can't stop looking at these really cute little prairie dogs so i'm hoping we can get uh some really good footage of all these behaviors that i would like to show you all so i'm gonna whip out the camera we're gonna see just how good footage we can get living in a semi-arid grassland or prairie can be a challenge if you're on the hunt for water so prairie dogs have adapted a special trick in order to survive in areas that get little or no rainfall on a regular basis these animals actually are able to sequester the vast majority of all the water they need from the vegetation on which they feed so these animals are able to get just the right amount of water out of their food without having to go and expose themselves crawling out to a water hole or a creek or river where they could easily be picked off by predators isn't that such a cool adaptation well i have gained my citizenship to the lovely prairie dog town and i think we got some great footage of these beautiful little creatures so i think it's time to bid our prairie dog friends eddie goodbye my cherished friends goodbye sweet little chubby rodents did he just say bye to me he did oh he went and that's prairie dog for goodbye to the most amazing wildlife educator we've ever had the pleasure of looking at their backside thank you very dog that's so sweet you didn't have to say that i know there's probably plenty of other wildlife educators that have done a much better job than me but you know it just still feels good to hear it so with that i'll bid you a do once again bid you would do not the prairie dogs that do because i haven't bid you would do yet thank you so much for watching i hope you enjoyed our little bout in the prairie dog town i know i did they're so cute they're so rambunctious and chubby big old fat prairie dogs love them but be sure to like comment share and subscribe turn on post notifications if you enjoyed the video join our channel memberships by the merch and of course above all else join us next time for the next episode of jack's world of wildlife [Music] [Music] do [Music] you

Channel: Jack’s World of Wildlife

Views: 7,348

Keywords: what is a prairie dog, what kind of animal is a prairie dog, do prairie dogs make good pets, pet prairie dog, black tailed prairie dog, what do prairie dogs sound like, why are they called prairie dogs, how big are prairie dogs, how big are prairie dog towns, how big are prairie dog colonies, where do prairie dogs live, cute prairie dogs, cutest prairie dogs, where are prairie dogs native, where are prairie dogs native to, what do prairie dogs do, where are prairie dogs

Id: bQmdKtIkiI4

Length: 11min 3sec (663 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 15 2021