The prairie dog mouse is a rodent of the genus Canis of the Squirrel family.[7][8][9]Grassland dogs have yellow body hair, darker ears, lighter abdomen, and black or white tail;The nose and ears are very small, and the beard is black, up to 3cm;There are 5 toes on the feet, with black, curved, thick claws;The tail is 20 percent of the body length.The prairie dog is also often called "groundhog".[7]It is named because it lives on the grassland and will make a sound similar to "bark, bark, bark" when disturbed.[10]
Grassland dogs are mainly distributed in the United States, Canada, Mexico and other countries.[11]Grassland dogs and mice live in caves all year round. The caves are divided into several areas according to the natural terrain. Members of the same cluster share a specially built tunnel.Grassland dogs and mice like to live in groups and do not hibernate,[7]He is alert, has a keen sense of smell, is good at running and jumping, and likes to touch each other by kissing,[12]Come out of the cave to feed during the day.Grassland dogs mainly feed on plants, such as grass, seeds, leaves, flowers, fruits, etc., and also eat bird eggs and insects.[11]Grassland dogs breed every spring. One male can live with 3-4 female rats, and one female can give birth to 4-5 young rats,[13]But there is only 4-5 hours of estrus in a year.[14]The life span of grassland dogs and mice is 3-4 years.[11]
Since the late 1940s, under decades of large-scale encirclement and suppression by the federal, state and local governments of North America, the living space and number of prairie dogs and rats have been greatly reduced.Grassland dogs are an important part of the grassland biological chain. They eat plants and are also the food source of other carnivores. The decline of their number is one of the main reasons for the endangered black foot ferrets.Special grassland dog and mouse protection bases have been established in Montana, Wyoming, Danketas and other places in the United States.[15]All 5 species of prairie dogs are listed in the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species, including 2 species of endangered (EN) and 3 species of non endangered (LC).[16]
It is named because it lives on the grassland and will make a sound similar to "bark, bark, bark" when disturbed.The prairie dog is also often called "groundhog".[7][10]
morphological character
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appearance
Grassland dogs have yellow body hair, darker ears, lighter abdomen, and black or white tail;The nose and ears are very small, and the beard is black, up to 3cm;There are 5 toes on the feet, with black, curved, thick claws;The tail is 20 percent of the body length.[7]
features
The prairie dog mouse is a kind ofrodentThe average body length is 28-35cm, the tail length is 6-10cm, and the weight is 500-1500g.Individual andhareSimilar, the body is grown and plump, and the head is short and wide.The neck is thick and short, and the ears are short and small.Body color ranges from yellow to brown.Short and fat, with a short tail.Extremely good at running and jumping,MolarsThere are 5/4 premolars on both sides of the jaw, 5 upper molars, and no skin wings between the front and rear limbs.[1][6]
The same species of marmots have gender differences in body size, which is generally greater in males than females, but the degree of this difference varies among five different species of prairie dogs.Female marmots are thinnest during the weaning period, which happens to be the time when male marmots gain weight.[1][6]
Prairie dog
Habitat environment
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geographical environment
It inhabits deserts or sand dunes and grasslands between 1600-2200 meters above sea level, namely, arid grassland valleys and intermountain basins.It lives in the Great Plains of North America, which is about between the US Canada border and the US Mexico border.[1]
Topographical features
Grassland dogs live in caves, like to live in groups, and do not hibernate.Their caves can be divided into several areas according to the natural terrain, as if they were a "town".A group usually covers about 2 hectares, which is a basic unit of "town".Members in the same cluster share a specially built tunnel, and the food in the field is also shared.The dog mouse's cave has two outlets, one is flat, and the other is a raised mound. The air flow speed at the mouth of the raised mound is high, and the pressure decreases, so there is a pressure difference inside and outside the cave, so that the pressure difference above and below the hole forms an upward pressure, making the gas flow toward the mouth of the raised mound.At the same time, the air pressure in the tunnel gradually decreases, and the air pressure above the other tunnel portal is higher, so the gas will flow in from this tunnel portal.Therefore, the wind on the ground blew into the dog mouse's cave, bringing the dog mouse a cool breeze.[2][6][7]
Air flow diagram
Sketch map of grassland dog and mouse cave
Sketch map of air flow in grassland dog mouse cave
Life habits
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colony
The prairie dog is a very interesting animal.This kind of mouse is especially fond of kissing. Dogs and mice use this way to contact each other so as to identify each other.The prairie dog does not hibernate. It is used to living in groups and is a highly socialized animal. The females in the family seem to have quite strict grades.Activities during the day, good at digging caves.The family composed of prairie dogs usually includes 1-2 male rats, 1-6 female rats and many mice. Each family organization occupies a territory, and their activities such as sleeping, foraging and mating almost all take place in their own territory.Several neighboring families form a group, and several groups form a cluster. The area where a cluster lives is often surrounded by rivers or hills to separate a group of rats from other groups. A cluster covers an area of more than 1000 acres (1 acre=4046.86 square meters), while a family's territory generally does not exceed 1 acre.[1][6]
At the age of three, the adult prairie dogs and mice will be driven out of their homes to establish their own new families, occupy the dead families of the householders or open up new families.
Cave dwelling
Grassland dogs and mice have a set of basically independenttunnelSystem.The 2 hectares are full of tunnels that can be dug up to 5 meters deep.Grassland dogs and mice mainly use their forelimbs to repair the ground, and their hind limbs to push the soil outward. The cave entrance will also be higher than the ground to tamp against water ingress. There will be a refuge room near the cave entrance when the enemy appears. There will also be a storage room, a living room, a toilet, and so on. Generally, at the end of the tunnel, there will be a main nest paved with soft grass mats, and the infrastructure is quite perfect.The caves they dig often become places for snakes, rabbits, even newts and beetles to defend themselves and live in.Some botanists believe that the prairie dog mouse is a kind of natural fertilizer applicator. They can continuously prune the prairie to increase the content of protein and the decomposition ability of grass.[1][6]
call the police
The prairie dogs and mice in North America have sharp hearing, excellent vision and a public early warning system for the protection of natural enemies.They are animals with great language talent.An American biologist studied the alarm calls of dogs and mice and found that they could identify hunters with different calls - including humans, hawks, coyotes and hunting dogs.In addition, the prairie dogs and mice can also distinguish different people. They can even make the same sound when they see the same person after two months.This feature surprised biologists.[3][6]
It seems that there are usually group members standing guard during the activity of prairie dogs and mice.A prairie dog and mouse shouted several times, and all the prairie dogs and mice in the circle disappeared from the ground in an instant. Then, a white seagull gently fell down from the circle, which shows the vigilance of the prairie dog and mouse. Moreover, it is said that when they saw different natural enemy alarm sounds, their names were different, so they could know themselves and their enemies and take the correct way to escape.[3][6]
food
Grassland dogs and mice choose different pastures to feed on according to their own needs in different periods, and will quickly change their eating habits in drought.The food includes western wheat grass, buffalo grass, sedge, Russian thistle (salsolane), cactus, Atriplex and sagebrush (Artemisia).American farmers hate these prairie dogs and mice because they dig holes to destroy the grassland and eat about 7% of the grassland feed every year.[1][6]
Distribution range
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Distribution of countries
Grassland dogs are mainly distributed in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
geographical position
The prairie dog rat is a species of the Great Plains. Through the western and central Great Plains of North America, it has branches from southern Saskatchewan to southern Montana, western Texas, New Mexico, and southeast Arizona in Canada;There are also prairie dogs and rats inhabiting in the desert grasslands of the United States, the northeast of Sonora and northern Mexico.It is distributed from southeast Arizona to southwest New Mexico.[1][5]
Distribution map of grassland dogs and mice
Reproductive mode
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reproduction
The social structure of prairie dogs and mice is well maintained and evenly distributed. The territory has been passed down from generation to generation and seems to be full of vitality.The reproduction quantity, pregnancy rate, litter size, growth rate and survival age of the prairie dog depend on whether the food is abundant or not.At the beginning of the breeding season, a small circle is usually composed of one adult male rat, three to four adult female rats, and several one year old male and female rats.Grassland dogs breed every spring. During the only 4-5 hours of oestrus in a year, a female can mate with as many as 5 males. Therefore, the pups born in the same litter may have different fathers. Each female has only one litter, about 4-5 pups.[1][6][13]
life
The prairie dog and mouse can only be three years oldSexual maturityThe service life is 3-4 years.[11]
Grassland dogs and mice are the prey of various carnivores, such as red and brown eagles and other eagles, foxes, snakes, black footed ferrets, etc.Especially the rare animals in the United StatesBlack-footed Ferret Almost all of them feed on prairie dogs and live in their caves.
Grassland dogs are an important part of the grassland biological chain. They eat plants and provide food for other carnivores.Special grassland dog and mouse protection bases have been established in Montana, Wyoming, Danketas and other places in the United States.With the efforts of volunteers and animal protection personnel, nearly 700 dogs and mice have been transferred to these reserves.Some ecologists pointed out that rebuilding the ecosystem of grassland dogs and mice requires millions of acres of grassland.It can be seen that the ecosystem of a region can be "easily" destroyed in a short period of time, but it takes several generations of unremitting efforts to repair it,North American grasslandThe gradual disappearance of dogs and mice is a good example.
Human Hunting
Since the late 1940s, some Americans have been killing this prairie dog and mouse in a big way.Their methods are mostly poison killing and releasehoundChase and kill.Since the individual of the dog mouse is far larger than the general mouse, someone uses a gun to shoot the prairie dog mouse.
A farmer named Ken Holmes once told the press that he had shot 20000 prairie dogs and mice.Under decades of large-scale encirclement and suppression by the federal, state and local governments in North America, the living space and number of prairie dogs and rats have been greatly reduced. From Mexico to Canada alone, the number of prairie dogs and rats has decreased by 98% compared with decades ago.
With the increasing call for the protection of biological species, many non-governmental organizations have also asked the government to protect grassland dogs and mice.Many conservationists in the United States have also turned their attention to this poor little animal. Some people even reached the level of "fanaticism". They stood in a row hand in hand, trying to stop farmers who shot prairie dogs and mice.
protection policy
In order to prevent the extinction of this kind of animal, the American Fish and Wildlife Conservation Association has invested 15 million dollars to implement the conservation plan.The Mexican government has listed five of these species asspecies in imminent danger。Utah in the United States listed it as a critical extinction species.[5]
Special grassland dog and mouse protection bases have been established in Montana, Wyoming, Danketas and other places in the United States.[15]
Protection level
All 5 species of prairie dogs are listed in the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species, including 2 species of endangered (EN) and 3 species of non endangered (LC).[16]
Other contents
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Butterfly effect
Grassland dogs are an important part of the grassland biological chain. They eat plants and are also the food source of other carnivores. The decline of their number is one of the main reasons for the endangered black foot ferrets.
Grassland dog and mouse communication
Grassland dogs and mice can talk with each other in a unique mouse language, such as talking about the weather and the coming storm.They have special terms for tall men in yellow shirts and short men in green shirts, coyotes, red tailed hawks, and many other creatures.For things that have never been seen before, they can even forge new "words" and use the same name.
Grassland dogs even speak different local dialects, and can communicate with each other in dialects with hometown accent.He believes that research shows that there is a rather complex information communication system between animals.
Observers used to describe the incessant chatter of prairie dogs and mice with continuous cries, loud growls and exclamations of surprise.Most scientists believe that prairie dogs and mice only make sounds to express their feelings, such as "pain", "oh", "ah", etc.But Slobodchekov is convinced that prairie dogs and mice living in this area are communicating detailed information with each other, and they may even be quite talkative.
Slobodchekoff and students work together in the lab, using numbersrecorderIt records that prairie dogs and mice see different people, dogs with different sizes and coat colorseagle、ElkThis paper studies the sentence structure of the mouse language of the prairie dog and mouse by computer analysis, and draws the semantic map of the prairie dog and mouse, which can directly show the meaning of the various calls of the prairie dog and mouse.Computer analysis then identifies the similarities and differences between these sounds.It turns out that except for eagle, deerantelopeandCowDogs and mice also use various names to call different carnivores, as if they want to tell the other side of the conversation what is happening.
Prairie dog and mouse words
Slobod Chekhov has studied and recorded at least 20 different words for prairie dogs and mice.Some words are improvised by prairie dogs and mice when they first see something.For example, they showed four prairie dogs and mice two animals they probably had never seen before - the big horned owl and the European ferret. As a result, prairie dogs and mice were able to express the new species they saw with their unique new calls.
Scientists showed grassland dogs and mice how to usePlywoodBlack silhouettes of animals and geometric objects, including one produced inPrairieA coyote, a weasel and an oval. As a result, dogs and mice all use the same cry to describe the black oval.Slobodchekov speculated that the gene sequencing of prairie dogs might enable them to have a certain mouse language vocabulary and the ability to describe objects.He found that when the prairie dogs saw the alarm recording sent by the coyotes, although the coyotes did not really appear, the prairie dogs and mice still ran away after hearing the warning sound, just like the reaction when they saw a real natural enemy.They seem to hear the recording telling them, "Oh, here comes the coyote, hide it quickly".
Computer analysis can decipher some calling sounds of prairie dogs and mice into different sentence elements, suggesting that horses, cattle and other domestic animals also have some elements to form real language.Slobodchekov believes that they are breaking the argument that animals have no language.
