Hellbrunn Zoo

Salzburg prairie dogs in newly renovated home

The prairie dogs at the zoo design their own home(Bild: Zoo Salzburg/Angelika Köppl)

Eight prairie dogs moved back into their old home at Hellbrunn Zoo a few days ago. Their enclosure has been renovated over the past few weeks and is now ready to be dug over again by the animal builders.

Since the beginning of this week, the eight black-tailed prairie dogs at Salzburg Zoo have been back in their original enclosure. The home of the tunnel- and cave-building experts has been completely renovated in recent weeks.

The eight black-tailed prairie dogs are back in their enclosure.(Bild: Zoo Salzburg/Angelika Köppl)

As part of the refurbishment, the small rodents have not only been given a new enclosure, but also a concrete starting cave with two pipes, from where they can create their own underground home. The Salzburg prairie dogs didn't need to be told twice. The carefully heaped mounds of earth clearly show how seriously they take this task.

Animals create their own home
"For the eight busy zoo inhabitants who are back on the grounds and can therefore be seen again, work is now really getting underway. Now that the construction team has finished, they are designing their home according to their own ideas," explains Director Sabine Grebner.

In March, the zoo's own construction team completely removed the substrate from the enclosure, stabilized the ground with a new fleece and mesh, then filled it up again and restructured it.