Gunnison's Prairie Dog
Cynomys gunnisoni
Summary 3
Gunnison's prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni) is one of five species of the prairie dog. Fur color is typically a yellow-toned buff that is merged with black-colored hairs. The upper head, sides of cheeks, and eyebrows are distinctly darker than the rest of the body.Their tails are mostly white with a gray-white tipped tail. The Gunnison's prairie dog is approximately 12 - 14 inches in length, with a tail of about 1.25 - 2.25 inches. This species typically weights between 1.5 - 2.5 lbs, with males being larger in size than females.
The Gunnison's prairie dog hind-print is approximately 1.25 inches long with 5 toes, while the fore-print is slightly smaller with 4 toes.
Scat is typically 0.75 - 1.25 inches long, a light brown color, and composed of fresh or dried plant material.
Location 4
Gunnison’s prairie dogs are primarily distributed in the Four Corners region of the United States. Nearly three-quarters of the population is said to reside in Arizona and New Mexico. They are typically found in high desert, grasslands, meadows, hillsides, broad alluvial valleys, and floodplains.
Gunnison's prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni) is one of the three prairie dog species found in Utah and are found in the southeastern part of the state.
The Gunnison's prairie dog cannot be found in Iron County, Utah.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Andrew Hollander, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/99408102@N00/3596326152
- (c) Brandon Wilburn, all rights reserved, uploaded by Brandon Wilburn
- Adapted by Brandon Wilburn from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynomys_gunnisoni
- (c) Brandon Wilburn, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
