New Prairie Dog Pups Make Debut At Maryland Zoo
BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- New babies are emerging in Prairie Dog Town, The Maryland Zoo's prairie dog colony.
Tiny black-tailed prairie dog pups started popping up above ground last week, the Zoo said Monday.
Black-tailed prairie dogs are from the western United States, and are usually born in litters of three-to-four pups each spring.
The Zoo said the pups are born underground in a nesting chamber and may spend up to seven weeks underground to nurse. They are born blind and without air, leaving them totally reliant on their parents to make sure they survive.
Prairie Dog Town, sponsored by Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), opened at The Maryland Zoo in 2009, moving the colony from their habitat in the Main Valley to the front of the Zoo.