User:Ilk12/Utah prairie dog

Lead
To discuss:

- behavior, especially in colonies and as social animals

- coterie interactions

- updated conservation/recovery efforts

- distinctions from other prairie dogs

- ecology of surroundings

- food habits

- reproductive strategy

- history of native population

- role as keystone species

- brief economic impact overview

Article body
The gestation period of a female Utah prairie dog is approximately 28 days.

Prairie dogs are particularly social animals and demonstrate communal behavior.

- they have the most constrained range when compared to other species of prairie dogs

Utah Prairie dogs also have distinctly clay colored proximal tail parts and dorsum, as well as dark eyebrows.

In 1920 there were approximately 95,000 Utah Prairie dogs and over the span of around 50 years, the population was decimated by an estimated 50%. Factors that contributed to this drastic reduction include diseases, increased aridity, overgrazing of habitats, epizootic infections, poisoning, droughts, habitat loss, and urban development.

In terms of taxonomy, there are two subgenera of prairie dogs: black-tailed prairie dogs and white-tailed prairie dogs. Utah prairie dogs are a member of the latter of the two groups and the subgenus Leucrossuromys. Utah prairie dogs may have been part of the interbreeding species of white-tailed prairie dogs but their differences are a result of what is known as allopatric speciation - separation of a species by physiographic and ecological barriers.

Their body weights can span from .3 kg to .9 kg in the spring, and .5 kg to 1.5 kg in the summer for males.

With well-drained soil for burrowing and appropriately colored soil for camouflage purposes

The pine fir forests of Bryce Canyon National Park

Utah prairie dogs act as a keystone species for their ecosystem - they are responsible for enhancing landscape heterogeneity, mitigating the height of local vegetation, mixing soil by burrowing (which in turn aids in the nitrogen uptake of plants), altering the chemistry of the soil by making it more porous and allowing for precipitation and organic matter to penetrate the ground. Other animals including rabbits, badgers, ground squirrels, and burrowing owls rely on the burrows and conditions that Utah prairie dogs generate.

Eating green vegetation and flowers of plants allows them to obtain large quantities of protein and energy.