Life Above and Below Ground

Life Above and Below Ground. Devils Tower National Monument. Above ground, prairie dogs are usually looking for plants to eat, eating, or scanning for predators. At a warning bark, prairie dogs dive into a dark city of tunnels, where they spend more than half their lives. They play an important role in the prairie ecosystem. Their habits change the environment, resulting in increased plant and animal diversity. , , Eradication programs have reduced the black-tailed prairie dog’s range from thousands of square miles to a few scattered preserves like this one at Devils Tower National Monument. Prairie dogs now inhabit about two percent of the area they occupied 200 years ago. , , Two hundred years ago, black-tailed prairie dogs lived throughout most of the Great Plains. , , Safety for Prairie Dogs and People

• Do not fee or get close to prairie dogs. They can bite, and some may have plague-carrying fleas. Human food sickens prairie dogs, and feeding encourages them to wander into the road where they may be run over.
• Do not reach into prairie dog holes. Black widow spiders and rattlesnakes may live there also, and both have poisonous bites.