While it has only been about a week and half since beginning prairie dog research in Walden, CO, it feels like I’ve already been here a month. Perhaps because we work every day. Prairie dogs wait for no one. But in all seriousness, I’m having a great time so far and couldn’t be happier with my decision to join the prairie dog squad.
Before heading out here my boss warned me many many times about being prepared for the weather. Generally around this time of year they experience freezing temperatures, snow, wind and all other conditions you wouldn’t want to be sitting in for 10+ hours. Lucky for me, the non-winter we were having on the east coast seems to have followed me here. Don’t get me wrong, it is no day at the beach here, but I have yet to tape heat packets to my body like a previous researcher warned me I would. And of course as soon as I was writing about our nice weather, we started to get dumped on by snow… go figure. Tomorrow will most likely be an eight layer day.
But enough about weather. Perhaps you’re wondering: “so what exactly is it that you do, Laura?” or “where do you work every day?” and “what does prairie dog research mean?” or maybe more truthfully… “will anyone actually read your blog?”
Because I know you’re dying to know the answers to these questions, I’ve taken the liberty of interviewing myself for your reading pleasure. Tally-ho!
Where are you working?
I work in the Arapaho National Wildlife refuge near Walden, CO.
Here is an example of the awesomeness that I view every day:
What do you do?
I am in charge of observing a specific area within the colony of prairie dogs we are studying. To do this, I sit in one 
of five towers and observe their actions. At the moment, my area only has one male up, and we already have a love-hate relationship. Why? Most of the prairie dogs have already been painted with markings to identify each individual, unfortunately, many have molted and no longer have their markings. When this occurs we trap them and identify them by their ear tags, repaint them and take DNA samples. The particular male in my area was a nuisance to trap – hence our rocky start. Most of the time I am in my tower observing, and once things pick up I’ll be recording data like a pro, and setting traps for the juveniles. For the time being, I’m reading my kindle (thanks, Dad!) like it’s my job since these little guys haven’t decided to quit hibernating yet.
What exactly are you researching?
My boss, Dr. Hoogland, THE expert on prairie dogs, is focusing on 5 main topics:
1) The prairie dog mating season, during which we will try to determine exactly which male(s) mates with each receptive female, and why females sometimes mate incestuously
2) Infanticide, by which males and females try to kill unweaned young
3) Marking of juveniles by litter to verify paternity
4) Communal nursing, by which females sometimes give milk to offspring of genetically related females
5) Alarm calling: Both males and females are surrounded by juvenile kin in June, but only females call. Why? Experiments with stuffed badgers will help us solve the silent-male puzzle.
(yes, that said stuffed badger)
Where do you live?
I live in a 70’s-esque trailer home in Walden, CO – Population: 612. I share our lovely mansion with 4 other researchers. The town is small indeed, and, unfortunately, littered with closed and for sale signs, but it’s quite homey and I’m sure it will be more hopping in the summer months. The second best restaurant in town might be the bowling alley, but there are two liquor stores, so what else could we really need?
I’ve run out of questions, and I’m tired of writing. For the two of you still reading – if you really just absolutely have to know more about what I do here’s a video made by a former assistant about the ins and out of prairie dog research. It’s a little hokey but it gets the job done. I promise future posts will be more interesting. At least I hope they will be. But really, watching prairie dogs is like watching a day time soap. It’ll get juicy.
Dances with Prairie Dogs 