Calgary Zoo black-tailed prairie dog research in Grasslands National Park- Canada

The Calgary Zoo’s Centre for Conservation Research, in collaboration with Parks Canada, is leading multi-year research on Canada’s only black-tailed prairie dog population, located in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan. The research on this keystone species aims to determine what influences prairie dog distribution and population dynamics within the grassland ecosystem.

Black-tailed prairie dogs play a pivotal role in the short and mixed grass prairie. Known as ‘ecosystem engineers,’ they dig extensive burrow systems, which provide refuge for other grassland species. They are also a significant prey source for animals such as the recently reintroduced black-footed ferret. As specialist predators of prairie dogs, ferret recovery in Canada hinges on the health and persistence of prairie dog colonies.

Over the last century widespread pest control campaigns, habitat loss and disease caused the extirpation of prairie dogs from over 98 percent of their original North American distribution. Although Canada’s prairie dogs reside in a national park and are protected from anthropogenic threats, their small population size, isolation from other colonies and location on the northern edge of their range, may make them more vulnerable to extirpation. In order to evaluate their persistence or implement effective conservation strategies, a thorough understanding of the factors driving their distribution and abundance is needed.

Biologists from the Husky Energy Endangered Species Program at the Centre for Conservation Research use techniques such as live trapping, vegetation sampling, visual surveys and motion sensor cameras to assess size, density and overall health of the prairie dog colonies. The knowledge gained will be used to determine locations for the proposed black-footed ferret release this fall; to understand how climatic factors, resource availability and disease influence the restoration and persistence of the ferret-prairie dog system; and to inform current and future recovery strategies to ensure both ferrets and prairie dogs remain a part of this highly endangered ecosystem.