Burrowing Animals: Airing the Prairie Dog

Black-footed ferrets were reduced to a remnant population of 10 in 1985 due to diseases (plague, canine distemper), but successful captive breeding and releases have improved the prospects for ferret recovery. Comparisons between black-footed ferrets and Siberian polecats, close relatives that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring, allow the following evolutionary speculation. Predation on ferrets and polecats tends to narrow their niches and promote specialization due to requirements for escape habitats. In Asia, that influence is countered by the larger and more diverse area of steppe and alpine meadow habitats for polecats, and by plague which causes large variation in prey abundance. In North America, the selective pressure favoring specialization in ferrets on prairie dog prey and burrows had no strong counter-force before plague invaded. Plague is an immense challenge to black-footed ferret recovery, and several management tools including vaccines and vector control may be necessary to conserve the species.

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A Note of the Prairie-Dog Owl which Resembles the Rattlesnake's Rattle

The American Naturalist ◽

10.1086/278870 ◽

1907 ◽

Vol 41 (491) ◽

pp. 725-726 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

F. B. Loomis

Keyword(s):

Prairie Dog

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Black-Tailed Prairie Dog Coteries: Are They Cooperatively Breeding Units?

The American Naturalist ◽

10.1086/284056 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 121 (2) ◽

pp. 266-274 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Gail R. Michener ◽

Jan O. Murie

Keyword(s):

Prairie Dog ◽

Cooperatively Breeding

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Fasting Biochemistry of Representative Spontaneous and Facultative Hibernators: The White-Tailed Prairie Dog and the Black-Tailed Prairie Dog

Physiological Zoology ◽

10.1086/physzool.68.5.30163938 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 68 (5) ◽

pp. 915-934 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Henry J. Harlow

Keyword(s):

Prairie Dog

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Influence of motilin and cholecystokinin on sphincter of Oddi and duodenal mobility

AJP Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology ◽

10.1152/ajpgi.1987.253.5.g679 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 253 (5) ◽

pp. G679-G683 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

E. L. Muller ◽

P. A. Grace ◽

R. L. Conter ◽

J. J. Roslyn ◽

H. A. Pitt

Keyword(s):

Sphincter Of Oddi ◽

Prairie Dogs ◽

Prairie Dog ◽

Cholecystokinin Octapeptide ◽

Side Hole ◽

Hole Pressure ◽

Duodenal Motility ◽

Sphincter Of Oddi Motility ◽

Duodenal Lumen ◽

Distal Port

The sphincter of Oddi and the duodenum exhibit cyclical activity in phase with the migrating myoelectric complex. Both motilin and cholecystokinin have been shown to modulate gastrointestinal and sphincter of Oddi motility. However, previous studies have not monitored the effects of these hormones on simultaneously recorded sphincter of Oddi and duodenum pressures. The present investigation was undertaken, therefore, to determine the influence of both motilin and cholecystokinin on simultaneously recorded sphincter of Oddi and duodenal motility. In seven anesthetized prairie dogs, a triple-lumen, side-hole, pressure-monitored perfusion catheter was positioned with the proximal port in the sphincter of Oddi and the distal port in the duodenal lumen. Sphincter of Oddi and duodenal motility was recorded before and during 20-min infusions of motilin and cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8) at 1, 10, and 100 ng.kg-1.min-1. Both hormones produced dose-related increases in sphincter of Oddi and duodenal motility. No response was observed with either hormone at 1 ng.kg-1.min-1. At 10 ng.kg-1.min-1, the duodenum was slightly more sensitive to motilin than to CCK-8, while the sphincter of Oddi was equally affected by both hormones. At 100 ng.kg-1.min-1, both hormones stimulated the sphincter of Oddi and the duodenum equally. These data indicate that in the prairie dog, both motilin and cholecystokinin stimulate sphincter of Oddi and duodenal motility.

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