Cynomys ludovicianus (Ord, 1815)
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.6840226 |
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DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6819045 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/064D0660-FFBF-ED43-FF6C-F658FCEBF6FE |
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treatment provided by |
Diego |
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scientific name |
Cynomys ludovicianus |
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Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Cynomys ludovicianus View in CoL
French: Chien-de-prairie a queue noire / German: Schwarzschwanz-Prariehund / Spanish: Perrito de la pradera de cola negra
Other common names: Arizona Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Taxonomy. Arctomys ludoviciana Ord, 1815 ,
“vicinity of the Missouri.”
Restricted by N. Hollister in 1916 to “Upper Missouri River,” USA.
Two subspecies are recognized.
Subspecies and Distribution.
C. l. ludovicianus Ord, 1815 — extreme S Canada (S Saskatchewan) through most
of C USA to C Texas.
C. [l. arizonensis Mearns, 1890 — SW USA (SE Arizona and S New Mexico) and NW Mexico (extreme NE Sonora and NW Chihuahua).
Descriptive notes. Head—body mean 373-5 mm, tail mean 87 mm (males) and 84 mm (females); weight mean 905 g (males) and 819 g (females). The Black-tailed Prairie Dog has dorsal pelage of buff to brown to cinnamon; face around eyes and snout can be paler. Tail is dark brown to black at tip. Venteris pale buff to white. Diploid number is 2n = 50. Subspecies arizonensis does not differ much from ludovicianus and may not truly represent a different form.
Habitat. Open flat to gently sloping grasslands with low and relatively sparse vegetation, in areas with fineto medium-textured soils. In the east, tall grass prairies where vegetation height is maintained by mowing or grazing are commonly used; in the west, short-grass and mixed-grass prairies are primary habitats. The Black-tailed Prairie Dog can use overgrazed livestock range, airports, and vacant grasslands at edges of urban areas.
Food and Feeding. The Black-tailed Prairie Dog is an herbivore that feeds primarily on young grasses, shoots of forbs, cacti, bulbs, emergent woody shrubs, and other herbaceous material growing in open grasslands. Individuals often clip vegetation without ingestion to maintain lines of sight and reduce woody encroachment on grasslands.
Breeding. The Black-tailed Prairie Dog lives in multi-burrow colonies. Mating season lasts 2-3 weeks when females enter a single day of estrus and copulate in burrows. Multiple paternities occur and a first-male advantage exists for sires. Reproductive maturity is reached at c.2 years old; however, a few females and males produce as yearlings. Young are born in burrows after 34-35 days of gestation. Females can wean onelitter per year; although most adult females mate, c.90% wean a litter, and ¢.50% ofyearling females are successful. Litters of 1-6 young appear aboveground at c.6 weeks after birth and are weaned soon afterward. Natal dispersal is male-biased, with most males dispersing in late spring or early summer of their yearling year; breeding dispersal by older adult malesis also common. Mean lifetime reproductive successis higher in males (c.7 weaned offspring) than females (c.4 weaned offspring), but it is more variable for males. Female reproductive success is positively impacted by previous year’s rainfall and by breeding early in the season. Heavy long-lived individuals have the highest lifetime reproductive success.
Activity patterns. Black-tailed Prairie Dogs are diurnal and can be active throughout the year, except during periods of prolonged cold when individuals can enter torpor and remain underground. Adults are readily active aboveground by March or early April and may begin to reduce aboveground activity in July-August in some areas; juveniles remain active until October-November.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. The Black-tailed Prairie Dog is highly social and lives in large complexes called “towns” or colonies. Burrows are relatively complex with multiple entrances and are recognizable by a small mound ofsoil and barren ring around entrances. A nest is found at the end of burrows that exceed 10-15 m long and penetrate 2-3 m deep. Black-tailed Prairie Dog colonies vary considerably in size and density, but some are known to extend for many kilometers, sometimes 35 km in length or longer especially prior to western European settlement and persecution. Colonies consist of territorial family groups called coteries. Coterie size can be as small as two or as large as 26 individuals, but the typical coterie contains one adult male, 2-3 adult females, and 1-2 yearlings of both sexes. Coterie territories average c.0-3 ha, and their boundaries remain remarkably stable over time. A typical coterie has c¢.70 burrows, and all members of a coterie can use any of these entrances, with one exception: pregnant and lactating females vigorously defend nursery burrows. Females in a coterie are almost always close kin (mothers, daughters,sisters, nieces, etc.). Coterie structure reduces effective population size due to matrilineal relationships, and fine-scale genetic differentiation is detectable. Playing, analand oral-gland sniffing, kissing, and allogrooming are affiliative behaviors shared among group members (except when females are nursing their young), but aggression, including physical combat,is directed at individuals from outside a coterie. Territorial two-syllable “jumpyip” call is given as an individual stands on hindfeet and throws its front legs and head upward, and this call commonly elicits similar responses from members of its own and adjacent coteries. Infanticide is the primary source of juvenile mortality, accounting for the loss of c.40% ofjuveniles. Sources of infanticide are marauding females that actively seek and kill offspring of other coterie members, female abandonment of their own offspring, immigrant male takeovers of coteries, and immigrant females. Blacktailed Prairie Dogs benefit from large colony size by their ability to detect predators early and spend more time feeding and less time being vigilant. Individuals sit on their haunches or stand upright on two feet to scan for predators. Vigilance functions mostly to improve probability of detecting a predator, but it also monitors activities of nearby conspecifics. Alarm calls are given in response to the large-bodied mammalian predators, snakes, and raptors that function as this species’ principal predators. Vocal repertoire is robust with twelve known sounds, but only “jump-yips” and alarm calls are common.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Population trend of the Black-tailed Prairie is declining. Although maintaining a wide distribution, area of occupancy has been reduced from c.40 million ha historically to ¢.766,400 ha, a decline of 98%. Habitat loss is considered a major threat because significant amounts of grassland (perhaps 40%) are being converted to agriculture. Urbanization also continues to remove sizeable amounts of habitat. Large and recently isolated fragments near other prairie-dog colonies, flat areas, and those with substantial grass cover are most likely to support prairie-dog populations in urban areas. Historically, the Blacktailed Prairie Dog was hunted occasionally for food, often for target practice or sport, and for pest removal; shooting remains popular in some parts of the distribution. It is often viewed as a significant competitor for forage or as a threat to livestock because their open burrows were thought to be a potential hazard to grazing animals—both of these concerns have been exaggerated. As a potential pest, the Black-tailed Prairie Dog was often poisoned in the 1900s in an attempt to extirpate them, resulting in massive declines; poisoning continues in some areas. Some researchers, however, consider species of Cynomys to be important for soil quality, as a vital contributor to other wildlife habitats, and as an indicator of ecosystem health. Evidence that the Black-tailed Prairie Dog is an ecosystem engineer and a keystone species is strong. It is also highly susceptible to outbreaks of sylvatic (bubonic) plague, a bacterial disease introduced to North America in the early 1900s and common in ground-dwelling squirrels in the western USA. These outbreaks rapidly eliminate local populations, due in part to the
high densities of the Black-tailed Prairie Dog. It was recently reintroduced into New Mexico and Arizona in the south-western USA.
Bibliography. Castellanos-Morales et al. (2014), Ceballos et al. (1993), Hollister (1916), Hoogland (1995, 19964, 1996b, 2003b, 2006, 2013a, 2013b), Kenney et al. (2016), King (1955), Miller & Cully (2001), St. Romain et al. (2013), Thorington et al. (2012), USFWS (2004), Winterrowd et al. (2009).
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