Prairie Dog Homes And Companions Sitting in a tower on a windy
evening in a remote corner of northwestern Colorado, John
Hoogland is doing what he likes best: watching prairie dogs. For
the layman, this might sound as interesting as watching paint
dry. But John Hoogland is a behavioral ecologist at the
University of Maryland. For the past seven years he’s spent the
spring and early summer in Colorado at the Arapaho National
Wildlife Refuge. “A major key to our research is we live with
these prairie dogs,” explains Hoogland. “We get here at dawn; we
don’t leave until they go to bed. So we get to know all their
idiosyncrasies.” “It’s like studying little people, because if
you have 50 prairie dogs you have 50 personalities,” says
Hoogland. “Some of them always get up early, some of them always
get up late…some of them are just nasty, and fight with anything
that comes anywhere near them, others are chicken and are always
avoiding fights.” Prairie dogs are especially appealing because
Hoogland says they are one