Prairie Dogs

Prairie dogs have a single sharp note to signal, "hawk overhead," and repeated calling by a group as a "coyote alert." The small mammals also use a mix of long notes and barks to tell others that there is a "human approaching." But the communication between prairie dogs isn't all about danger. For instance, Arizona scientists recorded a special call used by the communicative creatures that signaled when cows were in the vicinity. In another case, the prairie dogs created a new call to describe a wooden object that scientists dragged across the desert near the colony.