Prairie Dogs

Name: edHelper Prairie Dogs Squirrels come in many shapes and sizes. Most have the word "squirrel" in their names to give away their identities. But others do not. Prairie dogs, for example, are squirrels with misleading names. Scientists have found five types of prairie dogs on Earth. Four of them live in Canada and the U.S., and one in Mexico. The five types are the black-tailed prairie dog, the white-tailed prairie dog, Gunnison's prairie dog, the Utah prairie dog, and the Mexican prairie dog. Prairie dogs are small and stocky. They weigh up to 4 pounds. They have broad heads, chubby bodies, short legs, and sharp claws. All year round, they wear fur coats made of short, coarse hairs. The colors of those hairs are different shades of brown, ranging from yellowish to reddish. Prairie dogs are usually active during the day. They spend many of their waking hours searching for food. For the most part, they are vegetarians. They eat a lot of plant matter, like grasses, weeds, roots, and flowers. They sometimes eat insects, too. As their names suggest, prairie dogs like to live in prairies or grassy areas. They are extremely social animals. That means they never live alone. They always live in colonies. A prairie dog colony, called a town, consists of several wards. Each ward can be further divided into many family units or coteries. A coterie has a single adult male, several adult females, and their babies. Prairie dogs from the same coterie are very close, and they are not shy about expressing their feelings. For example, when two prairie dogs from the same coterie meet up, they crawl toward each other on their bellies. Once they are nose to nose, they "kiss" by opening their mouths and touching their teeth together. Besides using this creative way of greeting, prairie dogs also groom each other's fur coat as a means of enforcing their bonds. A prairie dog colony stretches across a huge area of land. The largest ever recorded was in Texas. Measuring 100 miles wide and 250 miles long, this particular town is home to nearly 400 million prairie dogs! Beneath the surface, it has numerous chambers, linked by a network of tunnels. The colony has many entrances. Those entrances are often marked by a mound of dirt. Prairie dogs like to stand on the mound with their hind legs to look out for danger. When they spot danger, they "bark" or make other noises to alert the entire town. Upon hearing the alarm, everybody rushes back home for safety. In many areas, prairie dogs are considered pests. One main reason is because they eat our crops. Another is because they dig. Prairie dogs love digging, so their town is forever growing. As they are busy expanding their colonies, they care not a bit about what is on the ground. This strong passion often leads to unsavory results. It can ruin gardens. It can uproot the foundation of a house. It can even wreck a city's sewage system. To control the damage, local governments launched a series of programs to catch and kill any prairie dogs. The programs worked. Name: edHelper In the past hundred years or so, the population of prairie dogs declined by nearly 98%. Of the 5 billion prairie dogs that once lived in North and Central Americas, only about 100 million remain today. Both the Utah and Mexican prairie dogs are endangered. As the population of prairie dogs reached an all-time low, a new problem surfaced. In the wild, there are many animals that eat prairie dogs. Without those furry ground squirrels, they all go hungry. Some of them make do with other smaller prey. But others are not so lucky. Black-footed ferrets, for example, love the taste of prairie dogs. They rarely eat anything else. When the population of prairie dogs dropped drastically, the population of black-footed ferrets collapsed, too. Today, there are only about a thousand black-footed ferrets left in the world. Most of them live in captivity. The U.S. government has invested a lot of money for the recovery effort. Scientists call the prairie dog a keystone species. The prairie dog is the primary food of not only black-footed ferrets, but also of some types of hawks, eagles, foxes, and badgers. Many people believe that the survival of the prairie dog is crucial to the survival of the American grasslands, the prairie. Let's do all we can to protect this cute member of the squirrel family. Prairie Dogs Questions 1. How many types of prairie dogs are there in the world? A. 2 B. 5 C. 7 D. 4 2. Which of the following about prairie dogs is true? A. They are mostly active at night. B. They are ground squirrels. C. They have slender bodies. D. They have long, smooth hairs. 3. Which of the following does a prairie dog NOT eat? A. snakes B. grasses C. flowers D. roots 4. Which of the following is the only prairie dog that lives in Central America? A. the Mexican prairie dog B. the black-tailed prairie dog C. Gunnison's prairie dog D. the white-tailed prairie dog Name: edHelper 5. What do we call a prairie dog's colony? A. a county B. a town C. a state D. a city 6. What do we call a prairie dog's family unit? A. a school B. a coterie C. a town D. a ward 7. Why are black-footed ferrets endangered? A. because a lot of them got run over by cars B. because a lot of them drank polluted water C. because a lot of them got sick D. because a lot of them could not find prairie dogs to eat 8. Which of the following prairie dogs is endangered? A. the black-tailed prairie dog B. the Utah prairie dog C. the white-tailed prairie dog D. Gunnison's prairie dog 9. By how much did the population of prairie dogs decline over the past century? A. 75% B. 98% C. 50% D. 60% 10. Where are prairie dogs' natural habitats? A. grassy areas in Africa B. grassy areas in Central Asia C. grassy areas in North and Central America D. grassy areas in Australia For 26,579,976,399, write the 8 cm = mm digit that is in the hundred 3 4 5 6 thousands place. + 3 5 - 4 3 Circle the digit in the hundredths place. 7 x 9 = 6 5 5 7,822.22 - 1 9 1 word root counter can mean against or opposite counteract edHelper Name: Prairie dogs play a very important role in our ecosystem. Without them, many animals cannot survive. The black-footed ferret is the best example. It is also the biggest victim. Aside from prairie dogs, think of another animal and explain how it helps to balance the ecosystem. Don't stop writing. Use a blank piece of paper to continue. Name: edHelper Women in Government Many years ago, women could not vote. They had no say in how the United States government was run. It took a long time before this changed. Women wanted to be a part of the government. After receiving the right to vote, women started to get involved. Some ran for office, and they won. Some of the first women to serve have amazing stories. Hattie Wyatt Carraway was born in Tennessee in 1878. She married Thaddeus Carraway after graduating from college. For many years, she stayed at home caring for their family and farm, while Thaddeus became a politician. He was elected to the Senate in 1912. After his sudden death in 1932, Hattie was appointed to fill his place. She went on to serve two additional terms as senator. After she was defeated for reelection in 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed her to serve on the Federal Employees' Compensation Commission. She retired after suffering a stroke. She died on December 21, 1950. When Jeannette Rankin's father died, he left her financially stable. She used her money to search for a meaningful career. After working as a seamstress, teacher, and social worker, she found her place. She became involved in women's fight for the right to vote. Her political involvement had begun. As World War I approached, she became involved in the peace movement. She ran for the House of Representatives in Montana. She won, making her the first woman elected on her own to Congress. She fought hard for peace, social justice, and women's rights. She voted against joining in World War I. This led to her defeat when she ran for the Senate. Later, she returned to the House. This time she voted against joining in World War II. She did not run for re-election, knowing she would lose. She spent the rest of her life working for peace. Sandra Day O'Connor graduated from high school at the age of sixteen. She decided to attend Stanford University. After graduating, she went to Stanford Law School. When she first entered the field of law, she found it hard to find a job as a lawyer. After getting married, she started her own law practice. When her first son was born, she stopped working and stayed home. After raising three boys, she returned to full-time work. Her first job was as Arizona's assistant attorney general. In 1969, she was appointed to be a state senator. Then she decided to run to be a judge. Sandra gained a good reputation as a judge.

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