🌾 “Prairie dogs are ecosystem engineers. As they go about their lives, they change their surroundings in ways that provide shelter, food and even nurseries for other species. On the grasslands of Montana, prairie dog colonies are islands of biodiversity. . . . 🌾 “Their burrows provide homes for many animals, including burrowing owls, badgers, swift fox, tiger salamanders, gopher snakes and black-footed ferrets, to name a few. The closely-cropped grass lawns they keep around their colonies are

From bison to badgers, ferrets to ferruginous hawks, black-tailed prairie dogs play an important role in creating a grassland habitat that supports dozens of other species. "As keystone species, prairie dogs lie at the heart of a network of ecological interactions," says Smithsonian researcher Andrew Dreelin. But prairie dog numbers have been declining for decades, and scientists believe the black-tailed prairie dog is down to just 2% of its historic range. How does this impact the species that