Prairie Dog Pups Meet Maryland Zoo Visitors

BALTIMORE, MD — Some new babies are on display this Mother's Day weekend at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. Prairie dog pups are popping up after spending the first seven weeks of their lives underground, and totally dependent on their parents.

The zoo’s colony of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) is welcoming new pups above ground this week. Black-tailed prairie dogs are a small rodent native to the Western United States, the zoo said on its website.

Female prairie dogs have litters of three to four pups each spring. The pups are born in a nesting chamber; they are born blind and without hair in their early weeks. Both parents care for the pups until they emerge from the colony's network of underground burrows, then the pups may nurse from any female prairie dog.

In the 1970s, prairie dogs were critically endangered, but through conservation efforts they are now considered a “species of least concern.” Zoo officials say the animals still face rapid habitat loss because of development, and numbers have dropped because of disease and eradication by ranchers.

The zoo's new prairie dog pups can be seen in Prairie Dog Town, their habitat near the front entrance of the zoo.

Founded in 1876, The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore is the third oldest zoo in the United States and has more than 1,500 animals in natural habitat exhibits such as the award-winning Penguin Coast, Polar Bear Watch, the Maryland Wilderness, African Journey and the Children’s Zoo. For more information, visit www.marylandzoo.org.