Quite the cutie, eh? While I see these little ones routinely, I don’t often take pictures of them. I reckon as much as anything because they are so common, I just overlook them, hoping to find something more unique near where they live. That is not to minimize their importance, however.
Many people think nothing about wiping out their colonies in the name of “progress,” however, prairie dogs play a significant role in the ecosystem. As a keystone species, many other animals are dependent on them. Most notably, raptors and many meat-eating mammals require them for food and burrowing owls depend on them for their summer homes. Take away the prairie dogs and you take away all of the other animals that depend on it.
I know someone with a large piece of property in northern Colorado that eradicated the prairie dogs on it as they were seen as a nuisance but kept a large, dead tree because bald eagles liked to hang out on it. Guess what? No more bald eagles hanging out since he did that. Something to think about.
