Q 01/05

The largest prairie dog town ever recorded, covering 25,000 square miles of Texas, held roughly how many animals?

A) 400 thousand

B) 4 million

C) 40 million

D) 400 million

Answer · why

D) 400 million

400 million is the estimate reported for that single town around 1900; today most towns cover less than one square mile.

Q 02/05

Which affectionate-looking greeting do prairie dogs share with their own family group but never with outsiders?

A) Hugging

B) Kissing

C) Bowing

D) Dancing

Answer · why

B) Kissing

Kissing, a quick touch of mouths, lets prairie dogs check who belongs to the family; members then often groom one another.

Q 03/05

Despite the canine name, prairie dogs are burrowing rodents belonging to which animal family, alongside marmots?

A) Squirrels

B) Beavers

C) Porcupines

D) Gophers

Answer · why

A) Squirrels

Squirrels count prairie dogs among their ground-dwelling members, close cousins of woodchucks rather than of any dog.

Q 04/05

Prairie dogs are rodents, so which doglike habit led early explorers to give the animals the second half of their name?

A) Howling

B) Digging

C) Barking

D) Panting

Answer · why

C) Barking

Barking is the prairie dog's warning call, a shrill yelp the animals often give while sitting upright at the burrow entrance.

Q 05/05

Which endangered nocturnal predator of the plains depends on prairie dogs for up to 90 percent of its diet?

A) Great horned owl

B) Long-tailed weasel

C) Black-footed ferret

D) Western spotted skunk

Answer · why

C) Black-footed ferret

Black-footed ferret numbers fell with the prairie dogs, and the species was declared extinct in 1979 before a small wild population was found two year...