Utah prairie dog the population decline, though there are other factors, such as "land development, deteriorating rangeland health, the encroachment of woody vegetation, sylvatic plague, and drought." Conservation efforts include encouraging landowners to improve the health of their rangelands, and compensating farmers who set aside areas the prairie dogs may use. Utah prairie dog 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. The fur is multicolor, which consists of black, brown, and dark brown at the tip. Face
Black-tailed prairie dog to leave the burrow to forage, but will enter a state of torpor at night to conserve energy. Torpor is categorized by a drop in metabolism, heart rate and respiration similar to hibernation, but is involuntary and shorter in duration. On average, black-tailed prairie dogs will lose twenty percent of their body weight during the fall winter season when they go through bouts of torpor. As winter progressed, the amount of time spent in torpor increases. Between different colonies the overall time spent in torpor varies, independent of prairie dog body mass. This may be due to weather during the