Mexican Prairie Dogs
By: Hannah Stodghill
English
May 12, 2003
Mrs. Carter
Although prairie dogs are considered cute and friendly, farmers are killing them because of their tendency to eat crops and dig holes that are hazardous to livestock. The Mexican Prairie Dog has short legs, long, sharp claws, and a short, flat tail. Most of the coat is a buff color, but there are four bands of color: black, white, reddish, and yellow. Mexican Prairie Dogs weigh about 26 - 42 ounces and their head through body length is about 10.7 - 12.7 cm.
The Cynomys mexicanos, also known as the Mexican Prairie Dog, lives in deep rock-free soils in plains and plateaus in Mexico. This breed of prairie dog lives farther south than any other species of prairie dogs in North America.
These prairie dogs live in burrows, and only come out in the daytime to eat. Mexican Prairie Dogs are very social animals, so therefore, they share their burrows with other vertebrates and invertebrates. It also lives in large groups, called colonies. When danger approaches a colony of prairie dogs, they alert one another by barking or chirping. The sound of this bark is one of the reasons the prairie dog got it’s name. The prairie dogs got the work “prairie” in their name because they live on prairies, and they got the word “dog” in their name because it’s warning call to other animals sounds like a dog’s bark.
Interestingly, the Mexican Prairie Dog is the only species of prairie dog that has a prolonged breeding season that usually lasts from early January through April, and maybe to July. Female Mexican Prairie Dogs bear a single litter a year, averaging four pups. The pups are born blind and without hair, but are completely furred by four weeks of age, and it’s eyes open not much later. Mothers will wean the pups when they are forty to fifty days old. A pup will reach adult size at five months of age.
Since the Mexican Prairie Dog numbers are dropping because farmers are killing them, I think that a law should be passed to end this killing, or at least reduce it. It would be a shame for the world to lose such a fascinating species!
Bibliography
Marshall, Cavendish. Endangered Wildlife of the World
New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1993.
“World Book Encyclopedia. “ 2002 ed.
Http://
9 March 2003
Http://
“Federal Document.” March 2003
9 March 2003
Http://ecos.fws.gov/servlet/”Species_FRDoc#top
“Unknown.” March 2003
9 March 2003
Http://
“Unknown.” March 2003
9 March 2003