Of Prairie Dogs
To many people in the west, Prairie dogs are abundant pests which ranchers, developers and public land managers try to kill off. The pudgy short-tailed cousin of the squirrel lives in networks of burrows called prairie dog towns, and alongside highways. But, the perception of the prairie dog is increasingly at odds with reality. As Kelly Griffin reports from Denver, biologists are trying to convince skeptical westerners that the prairie dog, and with it the plains eco-system, are in trouble.
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