大象传媒

In little more than 100 years, prairie dog numbers dropped by a staggering 98%. As the wild west was tamed and prairie turned over to ranching, a finger of blame was turned over to the prairie dog - it was labelled a thief and falsely accused of stealing the best grass. Shooting, pumping sulphur smoke into their burrows and finally using strychnine laced grain all contributed to their massive decline. But by killing the prairie dogs, humans were slowly killing the whole prairie. Research today shows just how important they are, especially to all the animals that want to eat them.