The Maryland Zoo will be showing off some new arrivals this week in Baltimore. The zoo’s colony of black-tailed prairie dogs produced some pups earlier this year, and they’re finally ready to pop their heads up above ground.
Prairie dogs, native to the western U.S., are born blind and hairless in an underground nesting chamber. They spend the first seven weeks of their lives being nursed by their mothers until they’re strong enough to emerge from their burrows. At that point, they may nurse from any other female prairie dog.
Is that a little furry head we see? Prairie dog pups are beginning to peek out of their burrows for the first time this season. Can you spot them? pic.twitter.com/cWOWDp8d79
— Maryland Zoo (@marylandzoo) May 10, 2019
The black-tailed prairie dogs used to be critically endangered in the U.S., but according to a news release from the zoo, they are now considered a species of “least concern.”
Visitors can find the pups in Prairie Dog Town, the habitat near the zoo’s front entrance.
