CONTENT UPDATE. We've uploaded a few additional papers to the PUBLICATIONS page, all PDFs. If you are looking for a paper authored or co-authored by John Hoogland which we haven't posted yet, send us an email through our CONTACT page and we'll see what we can do for you. Enjoy!

Prairie dogs: an ecological review and current biopolitics.

Pyraperm kills fleas and halts plague among Utah prairie dogs.

The influence of social breeding groups on effective population size in black-tailed prairie dogs.

Philopatry, dispersal, and social organization of Gunnison's prairie dogs.

Duration of gestation and lactation for Gunnison's prairie dogs.

Demography and population dynamics of prairie dogs.

Genetic evidence of outbreeding in the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus).

WE ARE FINALLY LIVE! Mariana has been working hard over the last several months to build and refine our website for visitors, and we're excited to finally make the website live so you can explore what we've done so far. As you can see here on the Blog Page, Mariana has been making blog posts all this time which, of course, have not been viewable, but you are welcome and encouraged to scroll back and read the entries over the latest research season on Gunnison's prairie dogs at the Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico. You should get a pretty good picture of what we do with the prairie dogs over the spring, summer, and fall; as well as information on our two ongoing research sites, one of which was hit by plague in 2016.

Meanwhile, we hope you enjoy the site. Check back often for more blog updates, news, and added content (especially in PUBLICATIONS and DATA). We are excited to showcase prairie dogs and John's long-term research for you, and we hope you explore thoroughly!

MIXED NEWS FROM REDONDO MEADOW, where Mariana has just completed several days of surveying and capturing our post-plague prairie dogs to mark them after their last molt. The vegetation has grown exceptionally tall, which we expected with so few prairie dogs foraging the grasses and shrubs. In the picture above, the tall flowering stalks are a species of plant called mullein (Verbascum thapsus). Some of these mullein have grown up to five feet. This species of plant is invasive in the United States, and prairie dog foraging and tilling has kept the mullein from overgrowing at our research site in the past. This year, however, the plant has overwhelmed the meadow.

Other grasses and shrubs have also overgrown, making the prairie dogs themselves hard to see. This not only makes finding and trapping them difficult, but it makes vigilance for the prairie dogs themselves difficult as well. While on one hand the prairie dogs might appear harder to find for predators, that perceived benefit is negated by the decreased visibility for the prairie dogs themselves. And on top of the poor visibility, there are so few individuals at the site that those still alive are hypervigilant and skittish. With fewer clan members to sound alarms and keep watch, the overall sense of danger is heightened.

And the danger is very real. During the hiatus between early July (when we captured new juveniles) and early September, we lost five out of twelve individuals in our post-plague clan. It is impossible to say with certainty what happened to the missing prairie dogs, but at this time we feel they probably fell victim to predation rather than the possibility that they dispersed. You may recall from a previous blog post (July 10) that two mothers (RAB and Head) were rearing juveniles in the summer. RAB had three, and Head had seven. Now in September, the remaining prairie dogs include RAB and her three offspring, but only three of Head's offspring, with no sign of Head or her four other juveniles. The remaining prairie dogs have all been marked and will be identifiable when they emerge from hibernation next March. That is, if they survive the harsh winter conditions. It is hard to say at this point how few of the already-few will be alive next year, but we remain hopeful.

IT'S MARKATHON TIME IN THE VALLES GRANDE, and John is back on site with a crew of assistants capturing and marking prairie dogs who have molted over the late summer. Our prairie dogs are now sporting thicker winter coats, and with them they have lost their semi-permanent dye markings. If we didn't return in the fall to mark our study subjects before winter, they would be unrecognizable upon our return for research in the spring. And with the mating season starting almost immediately, trapping to re-mark them in March would be too invasive and interruptive for the prairie dogs. And so, John brings a team to the site every Fall to make sure every prairie dog is dyed again. This is also a good time to take stock of the research colony, determine how many members (especially juveniles) are still alive, and survey what's happened since we've been gone.

UPDATE FROM REDONDO MEADOW, where Mariana has just wrapped up for the summer. All of the juveniles who were discovered in late June are still alive, and have all been captured, tagged, and added to the study population. Mothers "Head" and "RAB" are also still alive, and freshly marked as well. Mariana was unable to trap the three prairie dogs she frequently saw on the fringes of the study site, one or all of which could be the fathers of the new offspring (impossible to tell).

The good news is that of the 10 new Redondo Meadow juveniles, 6 were female. As a philopatric, matrilocal species (see more under COLONIALITY), prairie dog females do not disperse and will remain in their natal territories for their entire lives (barring rare circumstances that would cause them to disperse, such as losing all their kin). Adult female Head (who in 2016 failed to successfully rear a litter) had a full nursery burrow of seven juveniles, four of which were female. New mother RAB had three offspring, two of which were females.

Other prairie dogs were spotted (and heard) far outside the study site at Redondo Meadow, which bodes well for dispersing males looking for mates. In the Gunnison's species, female prairie dogs will begin mating in their first year, which means by this time in 2018, we will hopefully more than two litters in Redondo Meadow. We must keep in mind that a certain number of juveniles statsitically will not survive to the following year, but we remain optimistic that a few of the new offspring will be there for 2018. Stay tuned!