| The social spacing of the prairie dog is the territory (Hoogland,
1995). Its borders are well established, and are sometimes coinciding with
physical
barriers such as rocks or trees (Hoogland, 1995). Coterie territories often
take up 0.05 to 1.01 hectares (Hoogland, 1995). There are many reasons
why the social spacing of the prairie dog is a territory. The main reason
is
that prairie dogs face much predation. To escape this predation, prairie
dogs dig burrows (Hoogland, 1995; Chance, 1976). Burrows are a great investment
of energy and therefore are not easily given up (Case, 2004). In addition,
the food distribution of prairie dogs drives them to have a territory.
The food of the prairie dog, which consists mostly of grasses can be found
easily within their home territory (Hoogland, 1995). In fact, 99% of a
prairie dog’s food comes from within their territory (Hoogland ,1995).
In addition, prairie dogs are not very picky eaters; they adapt to what
plants
are most prevalent within their territory during the season (Long, 2002).
Another reason that accounts for the reason why prairie dogs have territories
is
that their food is evenly distributed or moderately patchy (Travis & Slobodchikoff,
1993). Because their food is sometimes patchily distributed, some portions
of the land
may be more favorable than others. It is necessary to defend these patches
of food (Travis & Slobodchikoff, 1993).
|
Territories are well defended
through the guarding of the resident male, as well as antipredator calls.
At the
edges of territories when two prairie
dogs encounter each other, a series of behaviors are exhibited (Hoogland,
1995). According to Hoogland (1995), these include “staring, bluff
charges, flaring of tails, chattering of teeth, and reciprocal sniffing
of perianal
scent
glands” (p.60). Agonistic behavior most often occurs between
males of different coteries defending their land (Hoogland, 1995). These
encounters happen
often during the day, usually around 20 per day, lasting around five
minutes. Females may also take part in these territorial disputes, fighting
only
when their competitor is their physical size or less. Once the competitor
is larger than them, however, they will give a call to signal the resident
male of their territory to come to their aid. Because this happens on
both sides, there will eventually be a male- male fight (Hoogland, 1995).
Hoogland (1995) describes theses fights as including agonistic behavior
in the form of "biting, kicking, and ramming," while other forms of agonistic
behavior
include
chasing
and runaways before a chase can occur (p.60).
|
Photograph Courtesy of Roberta
Stacey |
