Kid Territory: Critters: Prairie Dog Sisters
Yapper takes time to nibble a
tasty biscuit.
The sisters in a rare moment of calm: Tousa (in front) just took a dip in
the pool!
As one of our animal ambassadors, Yapper helps a Zoo educator teach children about prairie dogs.
Zoo names: Yapper and Tousa
Species: black-tailed prairie dog
Location: San Diego Zoo
What to my wondering eyes did appear…?
If you stroll through the Children’s Zoo at the San Diego Zoo early in the morning, you just might see a pair of large hamster exercise balls tearing around the grounds! The balls seem to move without rhyme or reason and certainly without concern for what might be in their way. Rambling around, seemingly interested in everything all at once, the balls bang into each other, bounce off in different directions, toodle around, then come back together. Even though they look like they’re moving on their own, they are in fact being propelled by two of the spunkiest rodents in the Zoo: Yapper and Tousa, the black-tailed prairie dogs!
Their story
These two sisters were born at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona, in April 2000. They were raised by a keeper who once worked at the San Diego Zoo and thought they would make excellent animal ambassadors here. Yapper and Tousa joined the Children’s Zoo crew in March 2002 and have been entertaining and educating our visitors ever since.
A prairie home companion
The girls come out frequently for animal presentations and make visits to schools and hospitals. You will never see one without the other: prairie dogs are a social species and feel safest in big groups. If we separate the girls, they both get anxious and crabby, so whenever one goes out for a presentation, the other isn’t far behind! Their handlers often carry large, fabric shoulder bags as well, so if the girls get nervous, they can dive down into the dark bag and feel safe, much as they would dive into a tunnel in the wild if they felt uneasy.
Sister, sister
Prairie dog sisters in the wild live close together their entire lives, in family groups called coteries. Yapper and Tousa share an enclosure and get along quite well. But like other sisters, they occasionally argue and fight. Fights can be loud and scrappy—with alfalfa hay going everywhere! Because Tousa is the more dominant of the two, Yapper seems to enjoy getting away every now and then and enjoys the attention the keepers give her. She will literally hurl herself out of her enclosure and into the arms of her handlers, so we always have to watch out for flying prairie dogs! Tousa is a little shyer and will only come out of her enclosure for a few of her trainers.
Busy girls
Because they are rodents, they like to chew—they chew on, and chew up, everything the keepers give them! It’s not unusual to see cardboard boxes, wooden toys, even phone books torn to shreds by these busy girls. They like to dig, too, so the keepers provide layers of hay and leaves and branches for them to work their way through. One of their favorite ways to exercise, though, is to ramble through the Children’s Zoo in their hamster balls. So if you come in early some morning, keep your eyes peeled for our black-tailed prairie dog sisters, Yapper and Tousa!
Where you can see them
Tousa and Yapper live in the Clark Theater area of the Children's Zoo at the San Diego Zoo.
