LIFE IN A COLONY Under Under the hot sun a colony of prairie dogs is hard at work The animals dig tunnels feed on grass and look for predators Soon one of the prairie dogs spots a coyote The prairie dog barks out a warning call The other prairie dogs run and hide A prairie dog jumps and lets out a call This action is called a jump-yip 5 CHAPTER 1
Grasslands National Park in Canada is home to colonies of black-tailed prairie dogs Once the coyote leaves a prairie dog stands tall It throws its arms out and its head back Then it lets out a high-pitched call Other prairie dogs join in This is how they check in on one another Prairie dogs are not dogs at all They got their name from their call which sounds like a dog’s bark Prairie dogs 6
are actually rodents They are related to squirrels and chipmunks Most prairie dogs are 12 to 15 inches 30 to 38 cm long and weigh up to 3 pounds 1 4 kg Prairie dogs live in the grasslands of central and western North America Here the animals dig large underground colonies made up of tunnels or burrows EXPERT DIGGERS Prairie dogs have short muscular legs and sharp claws These features help the animals dig complex tunnels In 1901 scientists found a huge prairie dog colony in Texas It covered 25,000 square miles 64,750 sq km As many as 400 million prairie dogs lived inside 7
