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New Day Cafe: Prairie Dogs [1]

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Date: 2023-03-06

They chirp when you’re walking past. I figured it was some kind of alert to other prairie dogs, but it’s much, much more intricate than that.

To a human ear, prairie dogs’ squeaky calls sound simple and repetitive. But recent research has found that those calls can convey incredibly descriptive details. Prairie dogs can alert one another, for example, that there’s not just a human approaching their burrows, but a tall human wearing the color blue. www.worldwildlife.org/...

And different species of prairie dog seem to speak different languages, based on variations in the sounds they make. (Prairie dogs around here are the black-tailed variety.)

x Prairie dogs have a language that's more advanced than any other animal language that’s been decoded. Researchers found that their calls convey descriptive details like distinguishing between a wide variety of animals: even what color a human is wearing https://t.co/CSSwUXGpAY pic.twitter.com/7LkdxYPnat — Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) February 23, 2023

This is fascinating. If you’re curious about prairie dog communication, the following short video is a must-watch.

This program discusses Prairie Dog Language -- the most sophisticated animal language decoded so far. Con Slobodchikoff, Ph.D., and his students at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, researched the Gunnison's prairie dogs Alarm Calls for over 30 years to decode their language. Sonograms of all 5 species of prairie dogs suggest that they would not understand each other and each species has their own language. Each species also has Regional and Local Dialects. From the YouTube description

[8:56]

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Prairie dogs are very social animals and live in large colonies often called towns. And these towns are well-organized.

A coterie is a unit of a prairie dog town encompassing about 1 acre. A coterie typically has 50-60 entrance points and belongs to a single family of prairie dogs, including an adult male, many adult females, and their offspring. Members of the same coterie will kiss or sniff upon identifying each other. Prairie dog towns may also include side chambers for use as a sleeping space or storage room and back doors for extra escape routes. www.nps.gov/...

>smooch<

x Prairie dogs are close-knit with members of their family and coterie and often show affection with a “kiss." They greet each other by touching noses or locking teeth as they come & go from their burrows. This greeting can also be a way of finding an intruder. Photo: Rich Reading pic.twitter.com/tqPSGfPeMU — Southern Plains Land Trust (@SouthernPlains) February 13, 2023

Amazing. Who knew the little buggers understood Bernoulli’s principle?

x In order to ensure sufficient oxygen within their burrow, prairie dogs use the Bernoulli’s principle. One of the entrances is built with a raised mound of dirt, while the other is not. This determines different wind velocities and different pressures: https://t.co/QvMKX3tkWi pic.twitter.com/S3XVUKAQea — Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) September 22, 2022

🌻 🌻 🌻

What do prairie dogs eat? Their veggies, mostly.

Summer and spring usually offer the most generous meals for prairie dogs which will feed off of grass and seeds that grow through the season. As these sources begin to dry up in the fall, prairie dogs will transition to eating forbs — the broadleafs from plants that grow flowers. As winter comes around, prairie dogs will transition to seeds and insects that serve as sources of high fiber. a-z-animals.com/...

They don’t hibernate, by the way, but they do bulk up before winter, and when it’s especially cold and snowy, they can go into a state of semi-hibernation. On nicer days, they will surface and forage. But when it’s really cold, blustery & snowing, you won’t see them. (They aren’t stupid!)

x How do you fancy prairie dogs, Jessica? pic.twitter.com/46p6cSrPzv — The Phoenix Conservancy (@PConservancy) March 3, 2023

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Prairie dogs are polygynous. And females only go into estrus once a year, for a short time in the spring.

The mating season is perhaps the most dramatic time in a prairie dog colony, lasting 2-3 weeks in the early spring, starting around late March give or take depending on the species. During that time, each female goes into estrus (and is sexually receptive) for only a single day, and usually only a few hours of that day. Because territoriality reaches a fever pitch during this time, males become not only remarkably active but also exceedingly aggressive toward each other. www.prairiedoghoogland.com/...

Nevertheless, they reproduce. 😆

A Gunnison’s prairie dog collects nesting material. [1:23]

Prairie dogs exhibit no paternal care, and the rearing of offspring falls entirely on the mother. With no time to waste in the spring, impregnated prairie dogs begin to exhibit maternal behavior within days after mating. It's important that they choose and maintain a nursery burrow for their upcoming litters, who will be born after four weeks of gestation. Once they have mated, mothers begin gathering nesting material (mostly dry grass) to bring into their burrows, and will increase their gathering behavior markedly for the period of their pregnancy. www.prairiedoghoogland.com/...

About a month after mating, female prairie dogs will give birth; the average litter is 4-5 pups. The pups are born hairless and blind, and nurse for about six weeks before they start learning to eat grass, and to forage.

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So c’mon in the cafe and grab a cuppa…

x Cowboy coffee recipe: 2 tbsp coarse coffee grounds per 6 oz water, a few crushed up egg shells to remove acidity. Boil water in pot, throw grounds+shells in. Boil a few minutes. Add just a couple tbsp cold H20 to make grounds sink. Pour and drink pic.twitter.com/wSDsgXhea1 — Survivalist | “that uncle” at Thanksgiving dinner (@BowtiedSurvival) January 27, 2023

..and a nice nosh...

x Fried Green Tomatoes and Biscuits and Gravy 🤤 pic.twitter.com/qFopxDhxgJ — Andrew (soon to be Emilio) Claudio (@kawasook) February 5, 2023

..and join us!

New Day Cafe is an open thread. What do you want to talk about today?

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/6/2155789/-New-Day-Cafe-Prairie-Dogs

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