HELLO FROM A LONG HIATUS. It’s January, which means the prairie dogs have been underground for quite some time now. The benefit of living half an hour from our research site here in northern New Mexico is that Mariana can check in on our prairie dogs as often as she wants. During her last visit to the site over Thanksgiving, the prairie was woefully quiet, waiting expectantly until our little friends come up again in March. Of the five species of prairie dogs, the Gunnison's, Utah, and white-tailed all hibernate, while the black-tailed and Mexican do not (NATURAL HISTORY). Though you will see black-tailed prairie dogs in the snow, the winters they endure in their region of the United States are not quite as harsh as those of the species who are forced to hibernate if they want to survive in their colder and higher altitude regions. This is one of many across-species differences that have fascinated John and driven him to study the different species throughout his career.

Just for fun, the photo above is a picture of socks Mariana picked up during a recent trip to the German Alps, home of the alpine marmot (WIKIPEDIA). The animals on these socks were sold as alpine marmots, but Mariana knew better - those are prairie dogs!

Prairie dogs are only found in North America (NATURAL HISTORY), and while marmots are close cousins they are not in the same genus (Cynomys for prairie dogs; Marmota for marmots). The resemblance is undeniable to the untrained eye, but don’t worry - you won’t be able to mistake the two species in the wild, as they live on different sides of the Atlantic ocean.

IT'S ANOTHER YEAR OF HOPEFUL NEWS from Redondo Meadow. Sadly, we cannot call it a victory quite yet in this post-plague colony. Mariana did not see a single juvenile this year, despite there being eight females of breeding age. The fact is there is not a single adult male who has established a territory at the Redondo colony, so it’s a lot to ask for a roaming male to find his way to these lonely females. But still we have a few survivors from last year’s litter (now yearlings) who refuse to go down without a fight. Many of last year’s prairie dogs have gone missing, but all of RR’s littler (two females and one male) are still hanging about. Though the chances are stacked against them, Mariana is confident this colony will bounce back in the coming years. Prairie dogs are resilient, and it takes quite a lot to keep a colony down.

THE END OF THE SEASON is always bittersweet for John and the crew. Nearly five months of hard work and few days off are finally coming to an end, but it means we must bid fond farewells to our prairie dog subjects. Every year without fail, the members of the Prairie Dog Squad fall in love with the prairie dogs, and they come out of their field experience with a greater appreciation not only for their study subjects but also for the research John has been doing for over four decades.

This year is just a little different, though. This year, John is packing up all of his equipment for good, and after 45 years he's retiring from the field. For myself, Mariana, writing this post now, I can only be grateful that I met John on his third to last season, and that I had the opportunity to learn what I could from him while I could. His wealth of knowledge has produced answers to questions on prairie dog behavior no other researcher could have answered, and the wildlife community is the better for having had John Hoogland sitting in his observation blind nearly half of every single year since 1974.

John is retiring from the field, but a wildlife researcher never truly retires. Data must still be analyzed, findings published, and outreach done. In the coming months, John will begin work on a book encompassing his work on prairie dogs, so stay tuned!

IN TODAY’S QUICK ANNOUNCEMENT, we are happy to be collaborating with a film crew for Nat Geo Wild on a potential upcoming program on Gunnison's prairie dogs. The flim crew has actually been out to our research site intermittently this year, and they have managed to catch some truly exciting behaviors. This late in the season, they’ve come back specifically to capture juveniles on camera. We cannot say much about the potential series at the moment, but stay tuned later in the year (or possibly even early 2019) for more information on the upcoming limited series.

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR, as juvenile prairie dogs have been popping up from their nursery burrows for the first time. Babies remain underground for 5 1/2 weeks after birth, during which time they grow as their mother nurses them. They are almost completely weaned by the time they first come blinking into the sun in early June, and are feeding on grasses from day one (CHILDCARE).

As for the mothers, they are still lactating and nursing their young but are doing so less often, and spending more and more time away from their burrows. Territoriality between females also wanes considerably during this time, as juveniles are now better able to defend themselves from infanticide (INFANTICIDE).

The killing of babies does, however, still happen throughout the summer, especially if a juvenile wanders too far from its natal territory. We are still uncovering the reasons behind why especially adult males will kill wandering babies.