Today is Prairie Dog Day

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers SHADOW MAN- Austin, a prairie dog, is approximately fiveyearsold. He was rescued from an individual who was keeping him illegally as a pet. He lives at America's Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College, as part of the Exotic Animal Training and Management program.

From Maine to California on Feb. 2, the annual prediction of Punxsutawney Phil is anxiously anticipated- will the groundhog see his shadow this year, foretelling that winter will last another six weeks, or not? For the past four years conservation organizations, led by Forest Guardians, have been giving Punxsutawney Phil's western cousins their due by making Feb. 2 a day to celebrate prairie dogs.

Last year the Santa Fe, N.M., City Council and Mayor Mary Chavez of Albuquerque, N.M., officially declared Feb. 2 Prairie Dog Day.

This year, Mayor Mark Ruzzin of Boulder, Colo., and the Lakewood, Colo., City Council are helping their towns celebrate this new tradition in the west. Boulder and Lakewood both issued proclamations declaring Feb. 2 "Prairie Dog Day" and pledged to honor the importance of this western icon of the prairie and mountain grasslands.

"Just as the groundhog predicts the duration of winter, the west's 'groundhog,' the prairie dog, foretells the future of a community of wildlife dependent on prairie dogs for food and for the habitat they create," said Dr. Lauren McCain, deserts and grasslands program director at Forest Guardians' Denver office.

Several species, such as the blackfooted ferret, mountain plover, swift fox, ferruginous hawk and burrowing owl are endangered or declining due to a 98 to 99 percent reduction in prairie dog acreage in the Great Plains. Prairie dog towns are also drawing increasing attention from the public because of the great opportunity they provide to view wildlife.

"Kids love learning about prairie dogs," said Judith Miller Smith, a Colorado school teacher. "Focusing on prairie dogs is a fantastic way for students to learn about the food chain and how ecosystems work."

Research during the past 20 years has also revealed that prairie dogs may have the most complex communication system in the animal kingdom.