Terri Chapman Photography
Capturing the Splendor of Nature and Divine Light
Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens
A Prairie Dog eating dinner. Prairie Dogs are considered a “keystone species” by ecologists. They are food for the black-footed ferret, swift fox, golden eagle, badger, coyote, bobcat, and ferruginous hawk. They provide housing for ground-dwelling birds, such as the mountain plover and burrowing owl. Grazing species like the bison, pronghorn, and mule deer prefer the lands the prairie dog occupies because their burrows have aerated and fertilized the native grasses and plants. As the prairie dog population has declined, so have the populations of many animals, including the black-footed ferret (critically endangered) and swift fox, which depend on them.
The prairie dog population in North America has dropped by 98% since the turn of the 20th century, when it numbered approximately five billion. Even so, they are listed as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
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