Baby Prairie Dogs Celebrated by Zoo

The Virginia Zoo in Norfolk was very excited to announce that on Sunday  6 week old Prairie Dog Pups emerged from their burrows to greet zookeepers and visitors. Zookeepers believe there are six, but they are still moving all over inspecting above the ground and move quickly back into burrows.  The pups stick together in little groups, come out of the burrows together and sometimes follow their parents around the habitat

Prairie dogs are burrowing rodents from the North American grasslands, west of the Mississippi River. They are small animals weighing between 1 and 3 pounds as adults and are herbivores eating fruits and vegetables. Prairie Dogs are fully grown at the age of 5 months. Prairie Dogs can sound like a small dog which is how they received their name.

According to Wikipedia:
Prairie Dogs live in a very harsh climate where it can get as hot as 100 degrees in the summer and as low as -35 degrees in the winter. Prairie dogs live in areas that are prone to environmental threats due to these extremes in temperature including hailstorms, blizzards, and floods as well as drought and resulting fires. Living in burrows provide important protection for these little creatures. Prairie dog burrows stay an even 5-10 degrees Celsius during the winter and 15-25 degrees Celsius in the summer allowing them to keep out of the harsh weather conditions. Their burrows aren’t just good for their protection though, Prairie dog tunnel systems help channel rainwater into the water table which helps prevent runoff and erosion of the top soil, and can also serve to change the composition of the soil by reversing soil compaction that results from grazing cattle.