Prairie Dogs: “Come hither” or “Back off”?
Hi Jim -
My boyfriend and his eight year old son and I went to the Minnesota Zoo today. We observed the prairie dogs doing the “yip jumping” and then we observed two prairie dogs in what was either a territorial display or a mating dance – we could not tell which it was. The pair we observed “took turns” turning their bottoms up toward each other and the other prairie dog would approach and appear to sniff the bottom of the other prairie dog. After a few minutes they got into a brief tussle. Was this mating behavior or territorial behavior? Just curious…
Thank you for the info that you have out there on the web. My boyfriend and I are all about educational experiences for his animal loving son and all the stuff on the web is a fantastic tool.
Take care,
Anne
March 18th, 2007 at 8:54 am
Dear Anne:
Thanks for your email. We’ll soon have a “Listener Feedback Loop” page on our website, and with your permission, I’d like to post your question. Perhaps someone with experience observing prairie dogs could answer. My response would be that you have pegged the two explanations that most field biologists give us for this sort of observed behavior. Anything else from me would be a guess.
Regards;
Jim Metzner
March 19th, 2007 at 2:25 am
Hi Jim -
Of course you can post my question when you get the listener feedback loop posted. My boyfriend’s son found another site that said that the rear-end sniffing was a greeting, but it didn’t say whether or not it was between both males and females, nor explain the tussle. As they seem to be very territorial during the mating season I’m guessing that it was two males.
Take care,
Anne