Prairie Dog Aboveground Aggressive Behavior Towards Black-footed Ferrets

Black-footed ferrets typically prey upon prairie dogs at night while prairie dogs are presumably sleeping. Prairie dogs can act aggressively towards aboveground ferrets in daylight and we observed prairie dog aggression towards ferrets four times in South Dakota and Montana. Ten behaviors by prairie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American midland naturalist 2013-04, Vol.169 (2), p.422-425
Main Authors: Livieri, Travis M, Licht, Daniel S, Moynahan, Brendan J, Mcmillan, Patrick D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
adults
Aggression
Aggressiveness
Alarm reaction
Animal behavior
Animal fighting
Behavior
Black-footed ferret
Cynomys
Dogs
Ferrets
Interment
Jumping
males
Mammals
Methods
Mustela
Mustela nigripes
National grasslands
National parks
Notes and Discussion
Physical contact
Prairie dogs
Prairies
Predators
Rodents
Snakes
Wildlife conservation
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:Black-footed ferrets typically prey upon prairie dogs at night while prairie dogs are presumably sleeping. Prairie dogs can act aggressively towards aboveground ferrets in daylight and we observed prairie dog aggression towards ferrets four times in South Dakota and Montana. Ten behaviors by prairie dogs were recorded during aggressive interactions with ferrets including chasing, blocking, and physical contact. One of the aggressive prairie dogs was confirmed as an adult male and three of four encounters occurred Jun. through Jul. Interactions lasted
ISSN:0003-0031
1938-4238
DOI:10.1674/0003-0031-169.2.422