“Noooo! It can’t be Monday already!”

Real picture of me dragging myself to work this morning. 😀 

While very common, I don’t usually take pictures of prairie dogs. However, they can be quite entertaining and such was the case with this one. It was highly animated yesterday, alternating between working on its burrow and rolling around in the dirt. Here it did a goofy move of dragging itself along the ground.

I am oftentimes dismissive of these creatures and many people think nothing about wiping out their colonies in the name of “progress,” they play a significant role in the ecosystem. As a keystone species, many other animals are dependent on the prairie dog. Most notably, raptors and many meat-eating mammals require them for food and burrowing owls depend on them for their summer homes.