Hi everyone!
Welcome to this week’s episode of Fridays
with a Ranger.
I’m Ranger Shannon with Lewis and Clark
National Historic Trail, and thanks for joining
me.
Now I’m back again at my kitchen table;
however, I have a few fun surprises today.
The first surprise is that I have a special
guest joining me.
Please say hello to my pet hamster, Fig.
She’s wearing her little ranger hat and
tie because she’s actually an honorary ranger
today, so you can call her Ranger Fig.
Fig’s a member of the rodent family and
the reason she’s here is because we’re
going to be talking about another special
animal of the rodent family and she wanted
to help.
Thanks so much for helping out today, Fig.
She’ll be joining us again later in the
video to talk more.
I also have some fun new surrounding me on
the walls behind me!
Now these friends happen to be some of my
favorite critters on the planet, and they
also are the topic of today’s video.
So today, we’re going to be learning about
Prairie dogs!
Shown on the screen is a photo of five prairie
dogs standing above their burrow in a field.
Prairie dogs have four front teeth, two on
the top and two on the bottom, that they use
to gnaw their foods with, much like Fig here.
They’re herbivores, meaning they eat plants,
such as grasses and seeds, although, they
do eat insects sometimes.
A fun fact about prairie dogs is they don’t
need to live near water to survive; they stay
hydrated by absorbing the water from the grasses
that they eat.
There are five species of prairie dogs: black-tailed
prairie dogs, white-tailed prairie dogs, Gunnison’s
prairie dogs, Utah prairie dogs, and Mexican
prairie dogs, which are native to Mexico and
not the United States.
Shown on the screen are the first four species
of prairie dogs.
Prairie dogs spend almost all their time underground
in their burrows.
They make their burrows by digging a tunnel
system deep underground with two entrances
to go outside.
Their tunnels have different chambers where
they can sleep and store food.
They make the entrances to the tunnels cone-shaped
by hammering the ground with their noses;
this is so rainwater can’t get inside their
burrows and so they have a spot to keep watch
for predators.
Prairie dogs live together in large groups
inside these burrows, which is why they’re
often called “towns.”
Shown on the screen is the background of my
kitchen, which illustrates what prairie dog
burrows look like.
Prairie dogs are about the size of a common
ground squirrel.
Shown on the screen are photos of a western
gray squirrel and black-tailed prairie dog
next to one another.
This is why when Captain Lewis, Captain Clark,
and the other members of the Corps of Discovery
first encountered prairie dogs at Old Baldy,
right here in Nebraska, on September 7, 1804,
they called them “barking squirrels” or
“the burrowing squirrels of the prairie.”
They were fascinated by these noisy little
creatures and wanted to bring one back to
President Thomas Jefferson.
Shown on the screen is an animation illustrating
what the first encounter between the Corps
of Discovery and a prairie dog might have
been like.
One of the goals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
was to not only document new plants and animals
that they discovered along the journey, but
to also bring back live specimens for President
Thomas Jefferson, and since none of them had
ever seen a prairie dog before, they knew
it was the perfect animal to bring back in
the name of science and discovery.
However, catching one of these critters was
not an easy task.
Members of the towns keep watch over their
territory, so if a predator is on the prowl,
they alert each other by “jump-yipping”,
shown in the photo on the screen.
When they jump-yip, they throw their head
and arms back and forth while letting out
a little chirp.
Now, they don’t just jump-yip when they’re
in danger; when it’s safe; when they’re
meeting new prairie dogs, or if they’re
just surprised.
To lure a prairie dog out, the crew decided
to dump water down one of the entrances of
a burrow.
However, they didn’t realize what an enormous
task they were taking on.
Prairie dogs dig their burrows very deep into
the ground, around 7 ft to 15 ft.
That’s about the size of an elephant.
It took five buckets of water to finally flood
the burrow enough that it forced a prairie
dog out.
Shown on the screen is an illustration of
three crew members dumping water down a burrow
as two prairie dogs watch.
That poor prairie dog, right Fig?
The captured critter traveled with the expedition
all the way to Fort Mandan in North Dakota.
It spent the winter of 1804 to 1805 there
with the crew until it was sent on its way
to President Jefferson.
The prairie dog traveled down the Mississippi
River, sailed to Baltimore, Maryland, lived
with the President for a short time, was sent
to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a live attraction
at a museum, where it spent the remainder
of its life.
Shown on the screen is an animation illustrating
the journey that the prairie dog might have
taken.
What are some ways that you think a prairie
dog town relates to your own town?
Comment on our Facebook or Instagram page
and let us know what you think.
So Ranger Fig, did you enjoy learning about
prairie dogs?
I sure did!
If you want to learn more about prairie dogs,
check out the links in the description box
below.
Also, if you want to color your very own prairie
dog, please check out our Color the Trail
page, which is also linked in the description
box below.
Here’s my completed page.
And this is one that’s not completed, this
is Fig’s, I’m gonna help her with it later.
Thanks so much for tuning in to this week’s
video!
Again, I’m Ranger Shannon with Lewis and
Clark National Historic Trail and this is
Ranger Fig.
I hope you’re all staying safe and please
tune in next week for another episode of Fridays
with a Ranger!
Bye!
