Who loves prairie dogs?

[eponinepontmercy]

Not so fast....


www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/03/adorable-prairie-dogs-brutally-kill-baby-ground-squirrels/474585/
Adorable Prairie Dogs Brutally Kill Baby Ground Squirrels

ED YONG 8:00 AM ET SCIENCE

The first time it happened, it was over so quickly that John Hoogland almost missed it. It was a spring day in 2007. Hoogland was sitting in a two-meter-tall observation tower near Walden, Colorado, watching a colony of white-tailed prairie dogs. During his stakeout, he saw one of the small, burrowing rodents—a female called “Head 6”—jump on something. She grabbed it, shook it for a few minutes, and then walked away.



Hoogland assumed he had just seen a case of infanticide, that the female had killed a neighbor’s baby. But when he walked over to investigate, he realized he was wrong. The victim was actually a baby ground squirrel—a completely different species of burrowing rodent, about half the size of a prairie dog.



“We had never seen anything like this,” he says. Not in 35 years of observing wild prairie dogs, and not in four years of watching the white-tailed species specifically. “But once we knew what to look for, it seemed like it was going on everywhere. The next day, I saw another kill. And then more.”





Between 2007 and 2012, Hoogland and his assistants witnessed 101 instances of prairie dogs dispatching ground squirrels. “It’s so quick and subtle,” he says. Brutal, too. The prairie dog would grab the smaller animal by the neck or chest and violently shake it for a few minutes, either breaking its neck or puncturing its heart. Most attacks happened after a ground squirrel entered the prairie dog’s territory. But in rare cases, the killer waited in ambush outside the victim’s home-burrow, or actively dug it out. In six occasions, “the female actually stalked a baby almost like a tiger coming in for a kill,” says Hoogland.





But unlike tigers or other predators, prairie dogs are grass-eaters. In rare cases, they took small nibbles of the squirrels they killed, but they most often left the body and went back to grazing. Often, a gull or crow would come by and fly off with the carcass, and Hoogland actually saw 58 such acts of scavenging in the absence of any obvious kill. “Even when we were watching non-stop all the time, there were cases we didn’t see,” he says.



The perpetrators were usually females, and the victims were almost always babies. At least a quarter of the prairie dog females under Hoogland’s surveillance took out at least one squirrel, and 19 of them were serial killers. One especially prolific female executed seven babies in a single day. (By contrast, the prairie dogs never killed their own kind.)



“It is killing competitors pure and simple. Cuddly little white-tailed prairie dogs, no more!”

This kind of “interspecific killing”—where animals kill competitors, rather than prey—is surprisingly common. It happens in at least 97 species of meat-eating mammals: cougars killing bobcats, lions killing hyenas, American badgers killing skunks, and (as immortalized in this award-winning photograph) red foxes killing Arctic foxes. But in these cases, the killers’ motives are unclear. They could well be after a meal. “That’s clearly not the case [with the prairie dogs],” says Tim Caro from the University of California, Davis. “It is killing competitors pure and simple. Cuddly little white-tailed prairie dogs, no more!”



This is, in fact, the first recorded case of interspecific killing among wild, plant-eating mammals. “When you’re talking about lions killing hyenas, they’re trained killers. They’re doing what they do naturally on something that happens to be competing with them,” adds Hoogland. “But prairie dogs are eating grass all the time, but then become violent killers over the course of three minutes. That’s extraordinary.”



The consequences of the kills were even more extraordinary. Hoogland showed that females who killed ground squirrels produced larger litters every year, and successfully raised more youngsters over their lifetimes—and the more they killed, they more successful they were. No other factor correlated with their success as parents—not body weight, colony size, or even longevity! Put it this way: Killing ground squirrels is the number one way in which female prairie dogs can get an advantage over their peers.





Prairie dogs and ground squirrels eat similar foods, so the loss of one squirrel means more grass for a prairie dog and her offspring. Those extra blades of grass might be especially important in spring, when mothers need energy for making milk, and when a lot of food is still buried under snow. “It’s hard to imagine that getting a little extra grass by removing a competitor could make such a difference,” says Hoogland. “But the prairie dogs are saying: No matter what you think, this is what is happening.”



And it’s happening so much that in many years, prairie dogs killed more ground squirrels than all other predators combined. Coyotes, bobcats, American badgers, Swainson’s hawks, golden eagles—these traditional predators were a lesser threat than the cute, adorable, plant-eating prairie dogs.



“I hope it’ll force people who are studying animals with nearby competitors [from other species] to consider that this sort of killing could be just as subtle or unanticipated as it was here,” says Hoogland. For example, many species of marmot share valleys with ground squirrels that eat the same food, and many bird species feed on the same levels of the forest.



“This is top-flight natural history,” says Caro. “It shows what years of dedicated observational research can uncover.” Indeed, when I spoke to Hoogland about his discovery, he was in another observation tower at the Valles Caldera National Preserve, north of Albuquerque. He was 8,100 feet above sea level, wearing six layers of clothing, and settling in for a long day of prairie dog-watching. Who knows what mayhem he’ll see this time?

[iammalcolmx]

I came in here KNOWING you were going to say they were rapists too!!

[sparrowsong]

Hahaha, I saw this and thought of this board too.

[pixy0stix]

Meh, I still like them.

[sushi]

H's family has a farm going back generations. I'm pretty sure they've never liked prairie dogs.

Also, it makes me think of pooping.

[josieposy]

This really doesn't surprise me. They can be mean little things.

[Scout'sHonor]

No one should like them, diseased, hole-digging vermin.

[MrsAxilla]

Mar 23, 2016 9:40:15 GMT -5 Scout'sHonor said:

No one should like them, diseased, hole-digging vermin.

Right?  I'm side-eyeing pixy0stix hard.  

[pixy0stix]

Mar 23, 2016 9:42:34 GMT -5 MrsAxilla said:

Mar 23, 2016 9:40:15 GMT -5 Scout'sHonor said:

No one should like them, diseased, hole-digging vermin.

Right?  I'm side-eyeing pixy0stix hard.  

LOL! They're a vital part of the prairie ecosystem. They perform a variety of different functions.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Meh, they're cute.

[miniroller]

Mar 23, 2016 9:53:29 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Mar 23, 2016 9:42:34 GMT -5 MrsAxilla said:

Right?  I'm side-eyeing pixy0stix hard.  

LOL! They're a vital part of the prairie ecosystem. They perform a variety of different functions.

You know- brutally killing ground squirrels!

[pixy0stix]

Mar 23, 2016 9:57:00 GMT -5 miniroller said:

Mar 23, 2016 9:53:29 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

LOL! They're a vital part of the prairie ecosystem. They perform a variety of different functions.

You know- brutally killing ground squirrels!

At least they're not raping them until they're dead?

[jigsy]

The only thing I have ever shot and killed was a prairie dog. My aunt and uncle had a dairy farm and the prairie dogs created holes that the cows would step in and break their ankles.

It was weird and sad and made me realize I am not a hunter...even though we had "good" reason, I still didn't like taking the life of something else.

[pixy0stix]

Mar 23, 2016 9:58:40 GMT -5 jigsy said:

The only thing I have ever shot and killed was a prairie dog. My aunt and uncle had a dairy farm and the prairie dogs created holes that the cows would step in and break their ankles.

It was weird and sad and made me realize I am not a hunter...even though we had "good" reason, I still didn't like taking the life of something else.

This is actually a myth. Cows do NOT step into their holes and break their legs. Nor do horses.

[MrsAxilla]

Mar 23, 2016 9:53:29 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Mar 23, 2016 9:42:34 GMT -5 MrsAxilla said:

Right?  I'm side-eyeing pixy0stix hard.  

LOL! They're a vital part of the prairie ecosystem. They perform a variety of different functions.

I don't live on the prairie!!  Wait.  Actually, now that I think about it, I haven't had to deal with them since we left Parker.  So....I retract my statement - lol.

[jigsy]

Mar 23, 2016 10:00:36 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Mar 23, 2016 9:58:40 GMT -5 jigsy said:

The only thing I have ever shot and killed was a prairie dog. My aunt and uncle had a dairy farm and the prairie dogs created holes that the cows would step in and break their ankles.

It was weird and sad and made me realize I am not a hunter...even though we had "good" reason, I still didn't like taking the life of something else.

This is actually a myth. Cows do NOT step into their holes and break their legs. Nor do horses.

Then I guess I am a cold blooded killer.

[MrsAxilla]

Mar 23, 2016 10:00:36 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Mar 23, 2016 9:58:40 GMT -5 jigsy said:

The only thing I have ever shot and killed was a prairie dog. My aunt and uncle had a dairy farm and the prairie dogs created holes that the cows would step in and break their ankles.

It was weird and sad and made me realize I am not a hunter...even though we had "good" reason, I still didn't like taking the life of something else.

This is actually a myth. Cows do NOT step into their holes and break their legs. Nor do horses.

People do, though.  We're not as smart as horses and cows, I guess.

[pixy0stix]

Mar 23, 2016 10:01:36 GMT -5 jigsy said:

Mar 23, 2016 10:00:36 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

This is actually a myth. Cows do NOT step into their holes and break their legs. Nor do horses.

Then I guess I am a cold blooded killer.

Sorry dude.

[ESF]

Prairie dogs are still totes adorbs. You cannot ruin them for me.

[Scout'sHonor]

THEY STILL CARRY PLAGUE PEOPLE!

[josieposy]

[pixy0stix]

Mar 23, 2016 10:23:39 GMT -5 Scout'sHonor said:

THEY STILL CARRY PLAGUE PEOPLE!

Aw, but they can't help it.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Mar 23, 2016 10:17:17 GMT -5 ESF said:

Prairie dogs are still totes adorbs. You cannot ruin them for me.

I continue this attitude toward otters, too.

[josieposy]

Yes I'm aware they aren't ground squirrels.

[sushi]

I think of you guys whenever I wear my sea otter socks.

[sangria]

So where the fuck are the mama ground squirrels during this genocide?
They should be fucking up some prairie dog nests. #revenge

[cinnamoncox0]

They're still wicked cute. I had a book about them that came with a stuffed animal for ds (now 17) and we had great fun reading that book, so they'll always be cute to me.

[eclaires]

Squirrels are gross. I say good riddance.

Which reminds me, I know I've told this story before but I like telling it because it's so crazy. My MiL is an insane animal lover. She even feeds raccoons. Anyway, her back yard is like a squirrel haven because they put out bird seed for them all the time. The squirrels are so fat and lazy, and there's even one that has a missing leg or something. Her dog, before it got too fat and tore two ACLs would chase squirrels and kill them. Then she would make my FIL bury them. Point is: my mil loves squirrels. A few years ago, she told me that she had been driving that day and saw a dead squirrel in the road. So she stopped her car, got out, and moved the squirrel to someone's yard. Then she said "I thought maybe they would bury it."

LOFL. No.