The Utah prairie dog (Cynomys parvidens) is the smallest species of prairie dog, a member of the squirrel family of rodents.
It is a protected species as it faces various threats the most dangerous being habitat loss.
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DiurnalDiurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
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HerbivoreA herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example, foliage, for the main component of its die...
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GraminivoreIn zoology, a graminivore (not to be confused with a granivore) is an herbivorous animal that feeds primarily on grass. Graminivory is a form of g...
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GranivoreSeed predation, often referred to as granivory, is a type of plant-animal interaction in which granivores (seed predators) feed on the seeds of pla...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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AltricialAltricial animals are those species whose newly hatched or born young are relatively immobile. They lack hair or down, are not able to obtain food ...
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BurrowingA burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct ...
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ViviparousAmong animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
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PolygynyPolygyny is a mating system in which one male lives and mates with multiple females but each female only mates with a single male.
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ColonialColonial animals live in large aggregations composed of two or more conspecific individuals in close association with or connected to, one another....
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Highly socialHighly social animals are those which are highly interactive with other members of their species. They live in large groups, nest in colonies, and ...
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HibernatingHibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy charac...
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starts withThe rare Utah prairie dogs are tawny to reddish-brown in color, with short tails with a white tip. Their faces have dark brown cheeks and a whitish tone around their chins and mouth. Utah prairie dogs also have distinctly clay-colored proximal tail parts and dorsum, as well as dark eyebrows.
Within Utah, there are three main colonies: East Fork, Awapa Plateau, and the main branch of the Sevier River and eastern Iron County. These animals live in grasslands (or ‘prairies’). They needs deep, well-drained soil for the purpose of creating underground burrows.
Utah prairie dogs live in large colonies with sometimes thousands of members. Within a colony, individuals reside in territorial family groups known as ‘clans’, typically containing one sexually mature adult male (of at least one-year-old) along with two or three sexually mature adult females. This species is a diurnal rodent, foraging during good weather above ground from just after dawn until just after sunset. They hibernate for several months each year, staying mostly underground from November to February, although they are not completely dormant during winter. Emergence from hibernation is dependent on altitude but is typically in March and April. The males generally enter and emerge from their hibernation one or two weeks before the females. These prairie dogs dig vast burrow systems underground, usually 5 to 7 meters (16 to 23 ft) in depth, with up to 25 entrances.
Utah prairie dogs are mainly herbivorous (graminivorous, granivorous) animals. They feed on various grasses, seeds, flowers, and sometimes insects.
Utah prairie dogs are polygynous (or harem-polygynous) which means that one male mates with multiple females in his clan (family group). The mating season is generally from late March to early April, and during this time each female is only able to mate for several hours in one day. Gestation lasts 28 to 31 days, and between one and seven pups will be born. Females raise their young in separate nursery burrows. Juveniles stay underground until they are five to six weeks old and weaned, first appearing above ground from late May until early June. Females tend to remain in their natal coteries while yearling males will disperse to the border of a colony or to another colony to seek females with which to breed. A female usually first mates at the age of one year. Males sometimes mate at this age, but they commonly don’t mate until the age of two.
The main threat to Utah prairie dogs is the invasion by humans of their habitat. Ranchers clearing the land for grazing regard them as pests that spread disease and consume vegetation their cattle could eat, so they often scatter poisonous bait near the entrances to burrows or inject poisonous gases into burrows. These animals are also threatened by sylvatic (bubonic) plague, caused by a bacterium and transmitted by fleas, an introduced disease against which Utah prairie dogs have no good defense. As a result of these threats, this species currently inhabits only about 5% of the area it occupied 200 years earlier.
According to the IUCN Red List, the total Utah prairie dog population size is thought to be fewer than 10,000 individuals. Currently, this species is classified as Endangered (EN) and its numbers are decreasing.
Utah prairie dogs have a vital role in helping to maintain the prairie ecosystem. Their burrowing activities aerate the soil, which allows more water to penetrate, and their dung, rich in nitrogen, is a natural fertilizer that acts to improve soil quality and vegetation. Burrowing owls, snakes and some other species of animals use burrows deserted by the prairie dogs for nesting areas. These animals are an important source of food for many predator species, such as the rare black-footed ferret.
