Prairie Dog Density Estimation

As part of my Master's Thesis (GRAY 2009) work in South Dakota I estimated density of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) on my study colonies. To differentiate which animals were live-captured in the different monitoring plots, individuals from the respective plots had a certain coat marking pattern. The fur dye was harmless and the marking went away when the prairie dogs shed their coats for the season. We handled 800 individual prairie dogs in two years on 5 prairie dog towns.