Endangered
Utah prairie dog
Cynomys parvidens
The Utah prairie dog is the smallest species of prairie dog and is endemic to the south-central steppes of the American state of Utah.
Appearance
The fur of Utah prairie dogs is multicolored, that consists of black, brown, and dark brown at the tip. Their faces have dark brown cheeks and whitish tone around their chins and mouth. Utah prairie dogs also have distinctly clay colored proximal tail parts and dorsum, as well as dark eyebrows.
The Utah prairie dog is the smallest species of prairie dog and is endemic to the south-central steppes of the American state of Utah.
Range and habitat
Utah prairie dogs are only found in the southern part of Utah. Today the Utah prairie dog is only found in the central and southwestern part of Utah in Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Piute, Sevier, and Wayne Counties. Even so, it was recorded that Utah prairie dogs existed as far north as Nephi, as far south as the pine fir forests of Bryce Canyon National Park, and Aquarius Plateau to the east in 1920, but the number declined from the 1920s to 1970s by 87%.
Conservationists also recommend seeding as a method of rangeland restoration, prescribed burning of vegetation, control of noxious weeds, and general brush management to preserve Utah prairie dog habitats and food sources.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
Utah prairie dogs are mainly herbivores, but they sometimes choose small insects, such as cicadas. The breeding occurs generally from mid-March through early April.
Female estrus occurs for just one day, for only a few hours during this breeding season. Nevertheless, this atypical cycle is sustainable because on average, ninety-seven percent of adult females are in conditions conducive to breeding and thus produce litters.
In crisis
The species is listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species with a status of Endangered. Because of this, it is a protected species. The prairie dog faces various threats - the most dangerous being habitat loss and diseases. The species appears in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with a status of Endangered, last assessed on July 11, 2016.
In 1920, there were approximately 95,000 Utah prairie dogs, but over a span of around 50 years, the population was decimated by an estimated 50%. In 1972, studies estimated a population of 3,300 Utah prairie dogs in 37 colonies.
Utah prairie dog is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Utah prairie dog, Wikidata item Q304415. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
