University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln University of Nebraska Press -- Sample Books and Chapters University of Nebraska Press 2005 Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie Paul A. Johnsgard University of Nebraska - Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/unpresssamples Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Johnsgard, Paul A., "Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie" (2005). University of Nebraska Press -- Sample Books and Chapters. 6. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/unpresssamples/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Nebraska Press at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Nebraska Press -- Sample Books and Chapters by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Prairie Dog Empire 11 [First Page] 12 13 [-1], (1) 14 15 Lines: 0 to 22 16 17 ——— 18 * 388.16002pt PgVar ——— 19 Normal Page 20 * PgEnds: PageBreak 21 22 23 [-1], (1) 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pagei//Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie / Paul A. Johnsgard 1 Other Titles by Paul A. Johnsgard 2 Published by the University of Nebraska Press 3 4 Lewis and Clark on the Great Plains: A Natural History 5 The Nature of Nebraska: Ecology and Biodiversity 6 This Fragile Land: A Natural History of the Nebraska Sandhills 7 Crane Music: A Natural History of American Cranes 8 Birds of the Rocky Mountains 9 Diving Birds of North America 10 Those of the Gray Wind: The Sandhill Cranes 11 The Platte: Channels in Time 12 The Grouse of the World 13 The Plovers, Sandpipers, and Snipes of the World [-2], (2) 14 A Guide to North American Waterfowl 15 Birds of the Great Plains: Breeding Species and Their Distribution Lines: 22 to 70 16 Song of the North Wind: A Story of the Snow Goose 17 The Bird Decoy: An American Art Form ——— * 18 Waterfowl of North America 243.822pt PgVar ——— 19 North American Game Birds of Upland and Shoreline Normal Page 20 Grouse and Quails of North America * PgEnds: PageBreak 21 Waterfowl: Their Biology and Natural History 22 23 [-2], (2) 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pageii//Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie / Paul A. Johnsgard 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Prairie Dog Empire 8 9 10 A Saga of the 11 12 Shortgrass Prairie 13 [-3], (3) 14 15 Lines: 70 to 102 16 17 paul a. johnsgard ——— 18 * 62.822pt PgVar ——— 19 Normal Page 20 * PgEnds: PageBreak 21 22 23 [-3], (3) 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pageiii/ /Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie / Paul A. Johnsgard 1 © 2005 by the Board of 2 Regents of the University of Nebraska 3 All rights reserved 4 Manufactured in the 5 United States of America ⅜ϱ 6 Library of Congress Cata- 7 loging-in-Publication 8 Data 9 Johnsgard, Paul A. Prairie dog empire : a saga 10 of the shortgrass prairie / 11 Paul A. Johnsgard. 12 p. cm. Includes bibliographical [-4], (4) 13 references and index. 14 isbn 0-8032-2604-7 15 (hardcover : alk. paper) Lines: 102 to 179 16 1. Prairie ecology – Great Plains. 2. Prairie animals – ——— 17 Great Plains. I. Title. 18 qh104.5.g73j64 2005 * 205.976pt PgVar ——— 19 578.74'4'0978 –dc22 2004024696 Normal Page 20 Set in Minion by Kim * PgEnds: PageBreak 21 Essman. 22 Designed by Dika Eckersley. 23 Printed by Thomson- [-4], (4) 24 Shore, Inc. 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pageiv//Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie / Paul A. Johnsgard 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Dedicated to the people and groups who have long and valiantly worked to 11 preserve our native grassland heritage 12 13 [-5], (5) 14 15 Lines: 179 to 192 16 17 ——— 18 * 374.58002pt PgVar ——— 19 Normal Page 20 * PgEnds: PageBreak 21 22 23 [-5], (5) 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pagev//Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie / Paul A. Johnsgard 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 [-6], (6) 14 15 Lines: 192 to 194 16 17 ——— 18 0.0pt PgVar ——— 19 Normal Page 20 PgEnds: T X 21 E 22 23 [-6], (6) 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pagevi//Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie / Paul A. Johnsgard 1 2 3 4 5 Contents 6 7 8 9 10 List of Maps viii 11 List of Illustrations viii 12 List of Tables ix 13 [-7], (7) Preface xi 14 15 1. The Western Shortgrass Prairie: A Brief History 1 Lines: 194 to 267 16 2. A Buffalo Nation: Its Death and Rebirth 12 17 3. Prairie Dogs and the American West: Little Towns on the Prairie 28 ——— 18 4. Ferrets, Badgers, Bobcats, and Coyotes: 7.18979pt PgVar ——— 19 Coping with Dangerous Neighbors 47 Normal Page 20 5. Free-loaders and Hangers-on: * PgEnds: PageBreak 21 The Rewards and Dangers of City Life 61 22 23 6. Other High Plains Wildlife: Born on the American Steppes 79 [-7], (7) 24 7. The High Plains Raptors: Death Rides on Silent Wings 95 25 8. The Varmint and Predator Wars: 26 It’s Finally Almost Quiet on the Western Front 106 27 9. Taming the Great American Desert: 28 Hardscrabble Times at the Fringes of Nowhere 118 29 30 10.Theusfs, blm, and bia: How the West Was Lost 129 31 11. The Great Plains Grassland Ecosystem: Can It Be Saved? 146 32 appendix 1. 33 A Guide to National Grasslands, Reservations, 34 and Nature Preserves on the High Plains 151 35 appendix 2. 36 Scientific Names of Animals in the Text 193 37 38 References 199 39 Index 237 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pagevii/ /Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie / Paul A. Johnsgard 1 maps 2 1. Ecoregions of the Great Plains 9 3 2. Bird Conservation Regions of the High Plains 10 4 3. Biological regions of the Great Plains 11 5 4. Distribution of bison 16 6 5. Current distribution of the five prairie dog species 32 7 6. Distribution of burrowing owl 62 8 7. Distribution of swift fox and kit fox 69 9 8. Distribution of pronghorn 81 10 9. Breeding distribution of mountain plover 86 11 12 illustrations [-8], (8) 13 1. Bison, males head-to-head fighting 24 14 2. Bison, male bellowing 24 15 3. Bison, male following estrus female 26 Lines: 267 to 408 16 4. Bison, male tongue-extension display 26 ——— 17 5. Bison, female nursing calf 27 18 9.87637pt PgVar 6. Adult black-tailed prairie dog 30 ——— 19 7. Utah prairie dog, adult 34 Normal Page 20 8. Gunnison’s prairie dog, adult 35 PgEnds: TEX 21 9. White-tailed prairie dog, adults in upright postures 38 22 10. Black-tailed prairie dog, adult jump-yip display 43 23 11. Black-tailed prairie dog, adult and young “kissing” 44 [-8], (8) 24 12. Black-tailed prairie dog, female nursing 45 25 13. Black-tailed prairie dog, crouching and sunbathing 48 26 14. Black-tailed prairie dog, alarm calling 48 27 15. Adult black-footed ferret 50 28 16. Adult black-footed ferret 50 29 17. Adult badger 52 30 18. Adult bobcat 55 31 19. Adult coyote 57 32 20. Adult burrowing owl 64 33 21. Adult swift fox 67 34 22. Hispid pocket mouse, Ord’s kangaroo rat, deer mouse, and 35 grasshopper mouse 73 36 23. McCown’s and chestnut-collared longspurs, lark bunting, 37 horned lark, and mountain plover 76 38 24. Texas horned lizard, tiger salamander, and ornate box turtle 78 39 25. Adult male pronghorn 80 40 Kim—UofNPress/Pageviii/ /Prairie Dog Empire: A Saga of the Shortgrass Prairie / Paul A. Johnsgard 1 26. Spotted, thirteen-lined, and Richardson’s ground squirrels 84 2 27. Long-billed curlew, marbled godwit, upland sandpiper, and 3 mountain plover 87 4 28. Horned lark, upland sandpiper, marbled godwit, and 5 mountain plover 88 6 29. McCown’s longspur, chestnut-collared longspur, and lark bunting 93 7 30. Adult golden eagle 96 8 31. Golden eagle and prairie dog 98 9 32. Ferruginous hawk and prairie dog 99 10 33. Adult prairie falcon 102 11 34. Bison, adult male 126 12 35. Bison, adult female 126 13 [-9], (9) 14 tables 15 1. Estimated historic and recent U.S. black-tailed prairie dog populations 33 Lines: 408 to 414 16 2. Recent acreage and population estimates for three prairie dog species 36 ——— 17 3. Summer prairie dog and burrow densities 37 18 * 160.92148pt PgVar 4. Coyote foods based on stomach analyses 58 ——— 19 5. Relative food item occurrences in scats of swift foxes from five states 71 Normal Page 20 6. Vertebrate associates of black-tailed prairie dogs 74 * PgEnds: PageBreak 21 7. Coyotes reported killed by sport hunters and taken in usda’s 22 Wildlife Services Program during 2000–2001 in five High Plains states 108 23 8.