Roberts Prairie Dog Town in Badlands National Park
Prairie Dog Taxonomy:
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Rodentia
- Family: Scuiridae
- Genus: Cynomys
- Species: ludovicianus
If there is one thing Badlands National Park has no shortage of it is prairie dogs.
They are kinda everywhere throughout the park and surrounding areas. You can see their extensive colonies on the sides of most of the roads you drive on through the park.
The most common prairie dog species is the black-tailed prairie dog, which happens to be the species you will encounter in the park. Prairie dogs can run up to 35 mph in short distances, are 14-17 inches in length and weigh 1-3 pounds each. Their diet consists primarily of plants, but on occasion will snack on a tasty insect.
Prairie dog colonies or “towns” are broken up into units called coteries. Each coterie of a prairie dog town is about 1 acre and has 50-60 entrance points. These units contain a single family of prairie dogs consisting of an adult male, many adult females and their offspring.
They kiss to show affection…isn’t that adorable! (Ok, they actually don’t kiss they are touching their front teeth together as a way to recognize each other, but kissing sounds better, right?)
One special prairie dog town you will encounter in the Badlands National Park is Roberts Prairie Dog Town.
It is the largest prairie dog town to be found inside the park. It is located on Sage Creek Rim Road on your way to Sage Creek Campground. There are paths to walk out among the colony to get a closer look at these furry little cuties.
DO NOT FEED OR PET!
These critters may be accustomed to seeing people, but are wild animals. They also carry fleas which can carry the plague. THE PLAGUE people…I’m not making this up you can google it.
It was a real joy to watch these guys for a while and to get pretty close to them.
On a side note Sage Creek Rim Road is your best bet at seeing bison in the park as well. We saw them multiple days and even got stuck in a bison traffic jam for 15 minutes one day. We also saw bighorn sheep here every day.
