The Utah prairie dog (Cynomys parvidens) is the smallest species of prairie dog, a member of the squirrel family of rodents native to the south central steppes of the US state of Utah.
Like all prairie dogs, the Utah prairie dog is an active forager, eating a wide array of vegetation including grasses, flowers, and seeds and sometimes insects. It is a small mammal, usually standing just 9.8–15.7 inches (25–40 cm) long, and weighing about 1.5–3 pounds (0.68–1.4 kg). Its fur has a brown coloring, and it has a white-tipped tail. They build extensive "towns" of underground tunnels and chambers, each town composed of a population of members of an extended prairie dog family. Many other species make use of their burrows, including owls, snakes, and other rodents. Litters are 3–6 large.
Read more about Utah Prairie Dog: Conservation Status
Famous quotes containing the words prairie dog, prairie and/or dog:
“To the cry of “follow Mormons and prairie dogs and find good land,” Civil War veterans flocked into Nebraska, joining a vast stampede of unemployed workers, tenant farmers, and European immigrants.”
—For the State of Nebraska, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring
In the days of long ago,
Ranged where the locomotives sing
And the prairie flowers lie low:—”
—Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931)
“It don’t make no difference whether you do right or wrong, a person’s conscience ain’t got no sense, and just goes for him anyway. If I had a yaller dog that didn’t know no more than a person’s conscience does, I would pison him.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)