In the natural world animals live, nest, hunt, mate and generally exist alongside other species and every one of them contributes to the equilibrium of nature. Like one big butterfly effect, the actions and efforts of one living being has repercussions both good and bad for others. In this article I will be focusing on one specific symbiotic relationship – the Burrowing owl and Prairie dogs.
So, do Burrowing owls depend on Prairie dogs? The answer is yes they certainly do. Burrowing owls depend on Prairie dogs for their burrows, their protection, and sometimes even their food. This symbiotic relationship is extremely important and eradication programs are a risk for this important partnership.
The main aspects of this symbiotic relationship that I will explain are:
- Burrows
- Protection
- Food
Burrows
Burrowing owls live in burrows – shock right? I’m sure that was obvious given the name choice but just to go back to the basics it’s good to highlight this fact. These burrows aren’t always easy to make, the ground can be extremely dry and tough making it difficult and sometimes near impossible for Burrowing owls to burrow their own nest. Some species of Burrowing owl manage it but most rely entirely on the burrowed holes already made by fellow tunnelling species. If you consider the build of a Burrowing owl, they are short and stout with stilt like small legs with wings, this is not exactly the perfect physique for digging but these symbiotic relationships between other species mean this is no problem, the Prairie dogs with their little paws can easily do the job for them. It isn’t actually always prairie dogs, it can also be badgers or squirrels that create the burrows but the most well-known partnership between these burrowing owls focuses on the Prairie dogs.
Protection
The sad part of this symbiotic relationship means that the decline of one species leads to the decline of the other, sadly rates of Burrowing owls are declining alongside the decline of the Prairie dogs. Sadly there are programs out there which aim to cull the numbers of Prairie dogs because in agricultural areas they are seen as a nightmare to plant growth and local farmers don’t want their crops damaged. Therefore, the Burrowing owls are feeling the brunt of these programs because when prairie dogs are culled in high numbers the owls no longer have as many burrows to nest in and then are at risk of predators finding them nesting in plain sight. Also any predator that tends to prey on burrowing animals seem to focus more on the Prairie dogs and therefore owls often take a back seat when it comes to predators but with less Prairie dogs around, the owls become number one on the dinner menu. Also Prairie dogs have alarm calls which inform Burrowing owls of any nearby threats, meaning they manage to hide or escape before the danger hits so without this alarm they’re much more vulnerable. So as you can see, without the Prairie dogs, these burrows don’t seem as safe as they used to be! Conservationists have tried to intervene and build man-made burrows for these owls but they don’t seem half as successful as the Burrows don’t last as long and the owls don’t have the same protection anymore.
These eradication programs are terrible for many reasons but the main issue is that it cannot be denied that Prairie dogs are pivotal species whose efforts support plenty of other species and therefore the domino effect of culling these amazing animals is detrimental to the natural world in more ways than these farmers truly realise. Often these farmers issues with Prairie dogs is also uninformed and based on falsities. Farmers often believe the burrows not only damage their land but also cause a hazard to their animals where they may trip and break their legs. In fact this rarely happens and really is more of a non-issue, also Prairie dogs help increase plant biomass so they are In fact useful in their own ways.
Food
Sometimes Burrowing owls will actually eat baby or dead Prairie dogs – the cheek of it after all they do for them eh? but that’s the natural world for you! Generally though this isn’t the case, Burrowing owls are more likely to eat mice, fruit, seeds, insects and smaller prey. When the eradication programs poison these Prairie dogs this means that the owls will also be subject to this poisoning when they feast on the dead carcasses.
I hope this article has been interesting, and provided an easy introduction into this important relationship. I wanted to show why eradication programs are much more problematic than we may realise.