A successful relocation effort has brought prairie dogs back to the Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge.
In 2015, the prairie dog population there died out under unknown circumstances, freelance reporter Kaley Johnson wrote for Texas Highways magazine. Now, two relocated colonies have started having babies, a good sign that the new residents of Prairie Dog Town are settling in.
Johnson visited the nature center to learn about the little creatures (which are actually a kind of ground squirrel) and she brought her knowledge to NTX Now's Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Prairie dogs help the whole prairie ecosystem
The way they burrow, the way they scurry over the land and make their holes, keeps the shrubbery down to a less-dense level, so bison and other mammals can eat from that area.
They also provide a little bit of a meal for some of their predators. As Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge manager Jared Wood put it, they are nature's snack.
According to staff, the center has seen an increase in some birds that they haven't seen there for years, which they suspect may be partially because the prairie dogs are unwittingly providing a bit of a draw for them, in terms of a brand-new restaurant.
The center's main goal is to restore that area as much as they can to its natural pre-settler prairieland, which is now quite rare in Texas.
Prairie dogs have inherent charisma
I forget who said it, but there's some famous quote from decades ago, where somebody said that if prairie dogs had been called a different name, they would be extinct, because they are basically squirrels.
They're related to squirrels, but because they're called prairie dogs, I think they have a bit of a character safety there.
They're really, really cute. As one of the staff members put it, a lot of kids will go to the center on field trips, and they won't hike a mile to just see wildflowers, but they will hike a mile to see prairie dogs.
Prairie dogs speak their own languages
They yip and it is so cute, especially the babies, because they're learning how to bark. Prairie dogs actually have a bunch of different dialects and languages — it's really fascinating.
When you go, they will do that classic prairie dog thing, where they stand up if they think they're in danger.
They also do practice runs. They'll stand up and bark, and you can see sometimes the little babies standing up, too, and start yipping.
Miranda Suarez is a cohost of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Miranda at msuarez@kera.org.
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