Prairie Dog Pals' News

ENDANGERED SPECIES: Undetected plague poses serious threat to Western wildlife

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2405&from=rss_home

USGS (Thursday, March 4, 2010) April Reese, E&E reporter Plague has emerged as a more serious threat than once thought to highly endangered black-footed ferrets in the Interior West, according to new federal research, in part because the flea-borne disease can lurk undetected for years in prairie dogs, which the ferrets rely upon as a primary source of food and shelter. Moreover, researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey have found that plague may be linked to the deaths of other rare and protected Western animals, including lynx and pikas, as climate change and other factors allow the disease to spread into higher-elevation areas. In total, as many as 200 species could now be susceptible to plague, according to USGS. Plague, a bacterial disease introduced to North America in the late 1800s, has wiped out entire prairie dog colonies throughout the West, hurting federal efforts to re-establish viable black-footed ferret populations. The malady, combined with habitat destruction for both ferrets and prairie dogs, led to the listing of the ferret as endangered in 1967 under a precursor to the Endangered Species Act. "We usually lose the entire population, so that was the common way of thinking about plague in prairie dogs," said Dean Biggins, a USGS wildlife biologist. "It was thought that it came from another host species, some kind of rodent and flea combination that maintained it, then got into prairie dog colonies, and then had to retreat when there were no more hosts left." As it turns out, the disease can lie dormant for long periods, and just because a population has not experienced a massive die-off does not mean plague has not infected a colony, according to the research published in the latest issue of Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. "Hazards from plague may exist even where there have never been epidemics," Biggins said. The findings present a new management challenge for wildlife biologists trying to maintain healthy prairie dog populations, especially the federally threatened Utah prairie dog, and recover the black-footed ferret. Treatments effective but costly Researchers found that dusting prairie dog colonies with flea powder and vaccinating ferrets are effective ways of controlling the bacteria. Such treatments proved especially effective in the Conata Basin in South Dakota, home to one of the largest black-tailed prairie dog populations and an important reintroduction site for the black-footed ferret. There, managers responded to the arrival of plague in 2008 by dusting 10,000 acres of the Conata Basin portion of Buffalo Gap National Grassland and 1,000 acres on adjacent Badlands National Park, focusing on key habitat for ferrets. While prairie dogs in the treated areas were spared from the disease, untreated areas saw prairie dog mortalities estimated at 15,000 individuals. "What we've dusted, we've been a able to maintain," said Randy Griebel, a wildlife biologist with the Forest Service, which administers the federal grassland. "Plague has been hitting right up against it and moving around it." A new vaccine developed for black-footed ferrets also proved effective, the studies found. Even so, plague did take a toll on the black-footed ferret population, reducing the population from 321 animals to about 200. "We took a pretty big hit here, but it could have been much worse," he said. USGS biologists are now working on a vaccine that will protect prairie dogs -- a much cheaper option than dusting thousands of acres with flea powder at a cost of roughly $20 per acre, Griebel noted. The introduction of plague vaccines could be key to the success of the ferret reintroduction program, which began in the mid-1990s and now includes populations in the United States and Canada. "There are 19 sites now, but plague throws a monkey wrench into a lot of them," Griebel said. "The original goal was to be at the delisting stage by 2010, and that's not going to happen. But in terms of bringing the ferret back from edge of extinction, it's now got a strong foothold, although it still has long way to go." Threat to other mammals? The surreptitious nature of plague has implications for other species as well. In the early years of the lynx reintroduction program in Colorado, several lynx were lost to plague, even though they inhabited an area thought to be disease-free. And plague could be part of the calculus of threats contributing to the decline of other species, such as the pika, which has suffered from the effects of climate change. "Climate change could be affecting the spread of plague," Biggins said. "We're now finding it where it didn't exist. It's just complete guessing right now -- we have no evidence of plague in pikas, but no one has looked for any. We wonder about other species, and what we might have missed." Researchers are also working to develop better detection methods for plague, whose harmful impacts can extend beyond wildlife to humans, Biggins added. Two years ago, a National Park Service employee in Arizona died of plague contracted from an infected cougar that he had found dead, even though a plague epidemic had not been observed in prairie dog populations in the area. Only about five to 10 human cases of plague occur each year in the United States, primarily in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and only about 8 percent of the incidents of plague infecting humans were traced to contact with prairie dogs. The most common vectors for the plague bacteria are ground squirrels and wood rats, according to federal experts, and plague-infected fleas are particularly common in rock squirrel populations in Arizona and New Mexico. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, at least 76 mammals are known to carry plague. The first known rodent in the United States discovered with plague was a California ground squirrel in 1908. Historians believe the disease arrived in the United States in the late 19th century via Chinese cargo ships. Bubonic plague, the most common form of the disease, kills about 50 percent of its human hosts within three to seven days without treatment and may have been the cause of the Black Death epidemic that swept through Europe in the 1300s, killing more than 25 million people. Click here to read the USGS studies. April Reese writes from Santa Fe, N.M. http://sigs.defenders.org/dowlogo.gif Jonathan Proctor Rocky Mountain Region Representative http://sigs.defenders.org/ghln300.gif 140 South 4th St. West, Suite 1, Missoula, MT 59801 Tel: 406.549.4103 | Fax: 406.542.5632 jproctor@defenders.org | www.defenders.org  

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Plan could make peace between humans and beasts

By Mark Havnes

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated:02/15/2010 06:51:42 AM MST The Utah prairie dog bedevils developers and government officials alike. More than one project has been stymied by the burrowing rodent, listed as a threatened species in southwestern Utah.  To read more click on TRIB

Doggone!

Prairie dogs have been eliminated from more than 95 percent of their grassland habitat. And now they, and the vast and complicated ecosystems they sustain, face a new and deadly threat. To read more, click on Doggone

Sunnyslope Estates, wildlife plan suggested as Broomfield council priorities

Enterprise staff Posted: 01/16/2010 11:28:13 AM MST Share Broomfield should complete its wildlife management plan, find a more humane way to euthanize prairie dogs and build a fairgrounds and a long-promised horse arena in 2010.  To read how Broomfield intends to euthanize the prairie dogs click on Broomfield

Prairie Dog Wars

...prairie dog wars. Devin Browne brings us a story from Kansas where people are suing and threatening each other and poisoning animals. We look at a fight between ranchers over land, rights, wildlife, and, yes, prairie dogs.   Click on WAR

McKinley reintroduces bill on Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge

2/05/2010 By Cindy Brovsky THE COLORADO STATESMAN

With the opening of the Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge on the horizon, Rep. Wes McKinley reintroduced a bill that requires signs posted explaining that the land once was the site of environmental violations and pollution from nuclear weapons production. To read more about this future home for prairie dogs Rocky Flats

A Request:

Dear All,

This is an issue i personally have been working on, and would greatly appreciate your support... Please see the message below, sign the petition (takes only a second), and pass on!! We are trying to put a ton of pressure on the Mexican government to protect this highly endangered Mexican prairie dog (Cynomys mexicanus) species. In 3 years alone, their populations declined by 33%, largely do to potato farming for making potato chips. Much more can be read on Dr. Valdés' Mexican prairie dog blog: http://perritomexicano.blogspot.com/ , including a "scientist's letter" (English and Spanish) that we have sent to the Mexican government.

Thanks for your help,

Ana

Hi All,

Below is a link to a nice letter to Mexican officials informing them of the prairie dog habitat that was plowed over last week. It also respectfully requests they look into the matter and protect this endangered species. Please take the time to sign the petition and forward to your members & friends, post on facebook and spread the word. Go here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/28/help-protect-mexican-prairie-dogs

Here's a picture of the destruction that occurred:

Thanks so much!

Lindsey

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/28/help-protect-mexican-prairie-dogs

Lindsey Sterling Krank

Environmental Scientist & Director

The Prairie Dog Coalition, a program of

The Humane Society of the United States

2525 Arapahoe #E4-527

Boulder, CO 80302

(O) 720-938-0788 or (C) 720-938-7855

lindsey@prairiedogcoalition.org

www.prairiedogcoalition.org
Ana Davidson, Ph.D.
Instituto de Ecología
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
Apdo Postal 70-275
México D.F. 04510
México

Department of Biology
University of New Mexico
MSC03 2020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
USA
http://www.unm.edu/~davidson/home.htm

Getting to know the odoriferous, ferocious: The mustelidae

by Burr Williams Midland Reporter-Telegram Published: Wednesday, February 3, 2010 4:25 PM CST The mustelidae includes weasels, minks, martens, fishers, black-footed ferrets, river otters, sea otters, skunks, badgers and wolverines. As a family, they fulfill the ideal of the predator. A predator is any organism that is highly skilled and adapted to hunt and kill other organisms for food. To read more, click on Predators

Lawsuit Initiated to Protect Hundreds of Endangered Species From Pesticide Impacts

San Francisco— The Center for Biological Diversity today filed notice of intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to adequately evaluate and regulate nearly 400 pesticides harmful to hundreds of endangered species throughout the nation, which also threaten human health. The EPA has violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to consult with wildlife regulatory agencies about the impacts of pesticides on hundreds of protected species that are threatened by pesticide use. The agency has also violated the Migratory Bird Treaty Act by registering pesticides that are known to kill and harm migratory birds. To read more click on Center.

Dramatic Prairie Dog

It's quiz time, Urlbots! Today's subject: the classic "dramatic chipmunk" video. Question #1: What animal is featured in the video? Question #2: From what film is the music in the video taken? Question #3: What is the name of the Japanese morning show from which the clip is derived? The answers, as well as a collection of the top dramatic animal videos of all time, are after the jump. There'll be prizes for anyone who gets all three answers correct (the prize is pride... seriously, what were you expecting?). Answers: (1) Prairie Dog, (2) 'Young Frankenstein,' (3) 'Hello! Morning.' Congrats, guys. Also, as promised, here are the top 5 dramatic animal videos of all time!!  Want to see it? Click on Dramatic PD

Prairie dogs chat with advanced 'language'

On first appearances they seem to be little more than a kind of nervous ground squirrel with a loud squeak, but new research is revealing that prairie dogs are in fact some of nature's most talkative creatures.  To read the article, click on Language.

Prairie dogs are highly social and live in large colonies that can span hundreds of acres of the grasslands of North America Photo: ALAMY

When prairie dogs disappear, invasive shrubs move in Grassland Guardians: Prairie dogGrasslands in northwestern Mexico that harbor endangered species are quickly being invaded by shrubs, thanks to a dramatic drop in the density of prairie dogs. To read the article click on Guardian

Prairie dogs have played vital role in grasslands

In a recent article on prairie dogs, it is mentioned that their main purpose in the world is to feed other plains animals, provide homes for owls and plague the herds, fields and wallets of ranchers and farmers. While all of these functions are legitimate, it did not mention the main importance of prairie dogs.  To read the article click on Grasslands

Program aims to protect Utah prairie dog habitat

(AP) SALT LAKE CITY - A new program to pay farmers and ranchers to protect Utah prairie dogs on their land may help finally push the threatened animals off the endangered species list, according to organizers. To read the article click on Utah 1/9/10

Feds: Prairie dogs not endangered
By JEREMY PELZER - Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Thursday, December 3, 2009 12:00 am
CHEYENNE -- After a year-long review process, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday that the black-tailed prairie dog should not be listed as an endangered or threatened species. To read the article click on PDs not endangered!

From Time and Dr. Suess

or...in the words of Pogo: "We have met the enemy and he is us"!

Landscaping (landscraping?) with and without clearcutting!

...or how about some pictures of what happens due to over grazing!

Before and after, off road vehicles impact

Exploration and Drilling, anyone?

The picture to the left is pre-development, the one to the right depicts the proliferation of well-sites and roads.

Here's another viewpoint on land and conservation: "Too many owners abused land...it was property law that enabled them to do so. Governments might practice conservation on public lands, but wildlife couldn't thrive, nor could soil remain intact and fertile, on public lands alone. For the entire land community to become healthy, private owners everywhere had to practice conservation as a way of life." by Aldo Leopold.

Journey of a Foster Mom

I guess if I go back totally to the beginning, it all started on a Friday when I was driving to the Twisters on Juan Tabo to get my customary “Frances” burrito. (That’s actually what the Twisters folks call it. Who else in New Mexico gets a breakfast burrito without chile on it?) Every day I pass a prairie dog colony that butts right up to the sidewalk on the east side of Juan Tabo, just south of I-40. The prairie dogs there are probably remnants from the large prairie dog colony on Paisano next to the Las Colinas Retirement Community. On that fateful day, I spotted a fallen prairie dog in the road.

As most of you know, prairie dogs eat their dead. Whether to keep from attracting predators or just to not let the protein go to waste, we don’t know. But many of the PDP volunteers will do a U-turn at the sight of a dead prairie dog in the road. We keep plastic bags in our cars for use as makeshift gloves so that we can pick up a dead prairie dog and throw it to the adjoining colony. We know that if it stays on the road, other prairie dogs will be run over when they come to feed off the body.

Well, back to the story…I did the customary 180 and returned to the dearly departed. Much to my dismay, I found that it was a nursing mom. The next day, I made the mistake of telling Yvonne and ruining her day too. Neither of us could stop thinking about her pups. I went back to where the mom had died, laid down at each nearby hole, and tried to reach my arm as far down the hole as I could. All I got for my troubles were some goatheads in my pants.

On Sunday, Eddie was gracious enough to go back with me and lay on the ground as well. Using the burrow cam, he checked the four sets of holes closest to where the mom had died. The burrow cam was designed for use in the artificial burrows, so we were not able to be sure whether the holes were occupied or not, except one—where we saw a mom and her four pups.

Worrying still about the orphan pups, I put little cups of applesauce down the suspect holes and started feeding the whole colony. While feeding on the following Wednesday, I saw some little pups out of their burrows with no adult supervision. Then I came to one burrow where there was a tiny pup lying at the mouth of the burrow. I bent down to pick up what I thought would be a dead pup, but he moved in my hand. I pulled my T-shirt up and cradled him inside. I rushed to Yvonne’s, holding the little guy in my shirt the whole way. He didn’t move too much, and I was afraid I was too late.

When I got to Yvonne’s, I found her nursing a tiny rabbit who had been caught by a cat. Yvonne said that if there were pups out of the burrows with no mom in sight, they must be orphans and I should catch them if I could. I went straight back to the colony where I found another little guy sleeping curled up in the mouth of another burrow. He was slightly bigger than the first, but still pretty small.

Back at Yvonne’s, she was trying to nurse the tiny bunny with a syringe of Esbilac. Yvonne showed me how to “wear” a baby animal. I safety pinned a kerchief to my bra under my shirt with the little guys inside. The idea is that whenever the little one wakes up and starts moving around, you know it’s hungry, and it’s time to feed them again. I tried my hand at feeding my two little guys with the syringe. I wasn’t very good at it, and I was too scared to let the littlest one depend on me to make it through the night. Eddie gave him a 50/50 chance. Both my little guys made it through the night, but unfortunately the little bunny (whom we named Thumbelina) did not.

I continued to go back to the site looking for pups out of burrow without their moms. On Thursday I caught a little girl at the same burrow where I had found the second little boy. Then on Friday I caught another little girl. I named them (in the order that I found them) Aidan, Aaron, Annabeth, and Alexandra. I took them home and took over feeding them every two hours.

I didn’t get much sleep the first week. At this point the pups were in a treatment cage on my bed. (My cat, Sissy, wasn’t happy with sharing the bed and took to sleeping in another room.) At first I would tell them apart by their size and their genitals. Alexandra was slightly smaller than Annabeth, and Aidan was smaller than everyone else. Then I started noticing differences in their faces. Aaron had a little black spot in front of his left eye. Alexandra had a little short black line that cut across the front of her right eye. And, of course, Aidan was still smaller than everyone else.

One night while I was feeding Annabeth, she stopped drinking from the syringe. She turned to take a good long look at me, as if to say, “Let me see who this is feeding me. You must be my new mommy.” Even after I stopped feeding them with the syringe, Annabeth seemed to always want to stick one of my fingers in her mouth as if she were nursing on it.

After the first week they were able to eat oatmeal mixed with Esbilac. When I moved them to a cage with hay, they ate the hay, and I added sunflower seeds, apples and carrots. They also started to wrestle and play a lot, and I would wake up every time I heard a squeal, so I had to move the cage to the kitchen so I could sleep at night. I could still hear them, but they seemed to settle down and go to sleep faster if I wasn’t in the room.

Meanwhile, a guy had found a female pup standing dazed in the middle of the parking lot behind Olive Garden. I visited his house and offered to take her off his hands and add her to my brood. Unfortunately, he wanted to keep her for a week and possibly longer. After a week he realized that maybe a prairie dog didn’t make such a good pet. He brought the little one to Yvonne and I added “Olivia” to my little family.

The first night with Olivia was a return to sleep deprivation. I wanted to be sure that she didn’t hurt my little guys, so I moved the cage back to my bedroom, where I could listen for signs of trouble. The original four were very sleepy, but Olivia was wide awake. She kept biting the others. They would squeal, but not get up and play. They were tired and just wanted to get some sleep. Three times I tried to separate her by putting her in the treatment cage. But she just went crazy. She’d been alone for a week, and she did not want to be alone anymore. Eventually we both gave in. I let her stay in the cage with the others, and she finally went to sleep. I think it was 3:00 AM.

They all grew so big, and I was so proud of them, especially Aidan, whom Eddie had given a 50/50 chance of making it through the first night. As they grew, the little black marks on their face seemed to fade, and I started telling them apart by differences in their tails. The bigger they got, the more they wanted to play. The cage by comparison kept getting smaller. Alexandra, especially, wanted out of the cage to explore the world. I would take them into my bathroom everyday for playtime, which they loved. Of course, when it comes to curiosity or wanting to go where they’re blocked from going, cats have nothing on prairie dogs. They would lick and sometimes chew on the walls and gnaw on the baseboards.

I found that if I gave them other things of interest, such as rocks and blocks of wood, it distracted them from the walls. They loved the rocks and would even fight over them. They were good-sized rocks in comparison to their mouths, but they would even pick them up and carry them. Annabeth in particular was determined to carry one rock up the ramp of the open cage door and hide it in the bed like it was a treasure. Everyday she’d try to hide that rock in her bed. She’d drop it over and over, but eventually she’d get it there. Eventually, they went back to chewing the walls and left me with some spots I’ll need to patch and retouch the paint.

Their other hobby was climbing…the cage, me, whatever. All of them would climb me except for Olivia, who remained a little wary. I liked it most of all when they would come up my chest and lick my neck. Aidan liked to do this the most. He would even climb up my face and lick my lips and then bite them. Sometimes he would even bite my nose or ears. It seemed like he thought Mama needed some piercings.

Of course, the camera always made it into the bathroom with us. I can tell you from experience, that with prairie dogs you never get the shot you think you are going to get. By the time my digital camera focused and took the picture, the intended subject had already stopped doing what was so cute or left the frame entirely.

Some days I would take them to Eddie and Yvonne’s with me. One night after we had gone to a movie, Yvonne said I should probably just leave them there in the staging facility since they were eating on their own. It caught me off guard. I guess I had assumed that I would keep them until we caught others from their colony with whom we could reintegrate them. I told Yvonne that I needed time to say goodbye, and I took them home that night.

One day turned into a week and a week turned into almost two. The crew did catch a number of prairie dogs from the colony where mine had been. I planned to come over one day and put my guys in the tank with them and watch for a few hours until I was sure they had been accepted. Over and over I brought them with me to Eddie and Yvonne’s, but still ended up taking them home with me at night. These little guys had stolen my heart. I had not REALLY anticipated how hard it would be to give them up. After almost two weeks, I finally did bring them to the staging facility, but not without a lot of tears.

The day before I finally gave up custody, I came to realize that Aaron was having trouble using his back feet. So rather than integrating them with the colony members in the tank, I put them in a separate cage so that we could monitor Aaron. We thought that maybe he just had a soft tissue injury that would get better with time. Unfortunately, he seemed to get worse.

A few days later I came to feed and noticed one of them sleeping on it’s back, but something seemed wrong. Maybe its head was just a little too far back. I just knew something was wrong. Afraid that Aaron had died, I rushed to open the cage. I picked up the lifeless body and clutched it to my chest as I began to sob. Eddie came into the garage to see what was wrong. When I showed him the body, I suddenly realized it wasn’t Aaron. It was one of the girls. I turned her over to look at her tail and realized it was Annabeth, my dear sweet Annabeth, who always wanted to “nurse” on my fingers. I had no idea why Annabeth had died. I kept trying to think of anything I might have done wrong, some injury I had missed, but there was no clear explanation.

Two days later I took Aaron to the vet. An X-ray revealed a problem in his spine, a “little stairstep” between two of his vertebrae. Dr. Levenson also suspected he had a problem with his eyesight. When I brought him back to Yvonne’s, I put him in the prairie dog room instead of the staging facility. One of his siblings had bitten his ear bad enough to bleed. I felt that in his condition he couldn’t “fight back” when they wanted to play. Since I’d already separated him to take him to the vet, what was the use in putting him back with his siblings? They needed to be integrated back into their colony. It was now clear that Aaron could never be released back to the wild.

Soon it became apparent that Aaron’s problems were much worse. Yvonne also thought that he had vision problems. He always had that wide-eyed look, like his eyes were always dilated to take in as much light as possible. And then we saw the blinking, which is a sign of seizures. Now we thought we understood why Annabeth had died. I had caught her and Aaron near the same burrow. They were likely true siblings. Whatever nutritional deficiencies one had suffered, the other likely had as well.

And so I plan to take my boy Aaron home with me and be his mom for good. We still have not integrated his siblings into their original colony because the BBC is trying to film them inside a mock burrow. The first session of filming was not entirely successful. Alexandra freaked and had to be removed from the mock-up. Aidan and Olivia cooperated to some degree, but began chewing up the inside of the mock burrow that the cameraman had spent so many hours constructing. The cameraman then couldn’t use any of the shots where you could see the obviously not natural foam on the floor of the burrow. As I said before, with prairie dogs you never get the shot you think you’re going to get.

Another filming session is planned, so Alexandra, Aidan, and Olivia are still in limbo. As for Aaron, I plan to become a full time prairie dog mom and take my little boy home with me. The only question is who will come home with him. Every prairie dog needs another prairie dog to sleep with. Yvonne and I are trying to figure out who would be the best companion for Aaron. My story isn’t over yet, but this is where it stands for now.

'You birds are nuts!' Hungry prairie dog bravely fends off bullying starlings

By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 9:38 AM on 20th October 2009

To read the article click on Starlings.

Sister (or Brother) ship!

We are family! Black-tails and Gunnies co-exist! Why can't we?

Pocket Gophers:

We've gotten a lot of calls about "prairie dogs" that are actually gophers. Know your signs!

What you see in the above two pictures are pocket gophers. Their mounds look like this:

The two pictures above were taken along the walking path on Tramway. In the picture on the left you can see the fresh dirt piles. The picture on the right is of the lowest pile. You can still see the opening and some fresh digging. The hole is approximately 2" in diameter.

When the burrows collapse you might see a 1-2" hole. These are not prairie dogs. If you want to read more about pocket gophers please read our Pocket Gopher Protocol by clicking the following link: Pocket Gopher

I found a recent article about pocket gophers which contains some excellent pictures, one showing the "pockets". To read the article click on the following link: PG

GOPHERS: Fish Oil Emulsion May Make Gophers Move Out

By Richard Fagerlund
For the Journal
Q: We have small children and a cat, but we also have a gopher problem in our backyard. They've been digging up the new lawn we had put in. Is there a safe way to get rid of them? — C.M., Corrales Click on the following link to read the whole response: Bugman

Ground Squirrels:

Ground squirrels are frequently confused with prairie dogs as well...below is a spotted ground squirrel, a native of this region. This is a older mom and you can see she has spots, a longer tail, and recently given birth to a litter. The younger ones are not so easy to differentiate due to the close cropped ears and lack of spots.

These too are not prairie dogs!

However, never never never be taken in by this ruse...

The infamous squirrel massage! Now where is the Spanish Inquisition?

Rock Squirrels (Spermophilus variegatus)

Rock squirrels are frequently mistaken for prairie dogs as well. Generally a good look at the bushy tail or ears will suffice to identify the squirrel. The burrows, however, are a bit more difficult to differentiate as given the opportunity the squirrels frequently use prairie dog burrows. The burrows for rock squirrels tend to be shallow (3-5 feet) and consist of the burrow and living chamber. Following are some pictures of the burrows and a rock squirrel. Rock squirrels are active during the winter, although they can "sleep" for extended periods during cold or inclement weather.