Gunnison's Prairie Dog - Breeding and Life Span

Breeding and Life Span

The Gunnison’s prairie dog mating season begins in mid-March and lasts until mid-May. A female is able to reproduce at the age of one year. When food availability is scarce during the mating season, they may wait another year before breeding. Females engage in sexual intercourse for a single day during the mating season, and can mate with approximately five males, depending on the population density of their habitat. Gestation lasts, on average, 30 days. Females produce one litter per year of four to five pups.

Once the pups are born, the mother Gunnison’s prairie dog nurses the pups for about 30 to 40 days. During this time, the young pups remain safely in the nesting burrow located underground. Towards the end of lactation, the young are able to come out above ground; they must learn how to separate themselves from their mothers and survive on their own. As soon as the mother is done caring her young, she relocates herself to another burrow, leaving her now-independent young behind. Not too long after, they scatter to other vacant burrows. A high percentage of female Gunnison’s prairie dogs settle close to their birth territories for their entire lifetimes, whereas a significantly low percentage of the males stay close to their birth territories for longer than one year.

The life span of a Gunnison’s prairie dog is generally three to five years in the wild, but they can live up to eight years of age.

The population of the Gunnison’s prairie dog is declining drastically due to three major factors: shootings, plague cycles, and poisoning. Many concerned groups of people are requesting that the Gunnison’s Prairie Dog be listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.