A Study of Social Interactions in Cynomys parvidens in Southern Utah

Wright-Smith, Mary

Populations of the Utah prairie dog (Cyonomys parvidens) have reached alarmingly low levels in recent years. Beginning around 1910, eradication programs were conducted to control their numbers on farm and range land. This practice reduced their numbers so severly that in 1968 the species was placed on the Endangered Species List. The Utah prairie dog was removed from the endangered list in 1970, but a 36% decline in population was reported for the year following removal. By 1972, their numbers had been further reduced, to an estimated total population of 3000. In 1973, the US Department of Interior again placed them on the Endangered Species List, where they remain. There are two complementary management strategies that can be pursued when a species is reduced to a critically low population level. The species can be protected from human interference where it already exists, and if the existing colonies are not too severely stressed, additional colonies can be established by the transplantation of some animals to other suitable habitats. Colonies of Utah Prairie Dogs were transplanted to areas of Bryce Canyon National Park in 1974. Further transplants were made in the summer of 1975 to two well studied locations.