Drawing on more than four decades of groundbreaking fieldwork, John Hoogland offers a fascinating window into the lives of prairie dogs—highly social, diurnal rodents that inhabit the grasslands of western North America and function as a keystone species. He explores how prairie dogs live in large colonies, communicate through sophisticated alarm calls, and navigate the challenges of cooperation and competition in the wild.
From mating strategies and preferential treatment of kin to predation, population dynamics, and conservation, Hoogland shares surprising discoveries that reshape the understanding of social animals. Blending scientific insight with field stories and comparisons across the animal kingdom, he reveals the prairie dog as a model for studying behavior, ecology, and the value of long-term research.
Hoogland’s new book, Prairie Dogs: Ecology and Social Behavior (Princeton University Press), is available for purchase.
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