Prairie dogs may have the most extensive vocabulary of any animal other than humans. They can actually distinguish, linguistically, between a short human in a blue shirt and a tall human in a yellow ...

Like many humans, most young animals approaching adulthood tend to leave their parents and siblings and strike out on their own. They want to avoid competing with relatives. They want to avoid incest.

Prairie dogs are a keystone species that provides disturbance in North American grasslands through grazing, burrowing, and clipping. This behavior shapes the habitat of countless prairie residents, ...

Most people accept that animals kill other animals for food, to protect their young or to defend a carcass or other food stash—it’s the circle of life and all that. But new research shows that at ...

Prairie dog haters, be warned: Removing the species you consider a pest could ruin delicate lands. North America is home to five prairie dog species, which live in various parts of the Great Plains ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Prairie dogs may have a vocal communication system more complex than that of dolphins, whales and non-human primates, according to a new study. Gunnison's prairie dog (Cynomys ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers in the US studying the behavior of black-tailed prairie dogs at a local zoo have discovered they behave differently, kissing and cuddling each other more when people are ...

For generations, prairie dogs were often treated as a problem rather than an ecological asset. Their burrows were blamed for competing with livestock, while their colonies were targeted through ...

All pets love getting new toys and cozy things that are just for them, especially something to lounge on, like a new bed. Kyra Richter's pet prairie dog, Potato, recently got one, and when he decided ...

A virus similar to smallpox apparently jumped from an imported African rat to pet prairie dogs, infecting at least four people — possibly dozens — in the disease's first appearance in the Western ...