Each week, Atlas Obscura is providing a new short excerpt from our upcoming book, Wild Life: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Living Wonders (September 17, 2024). In the early twentieth century, some prairie dog towns stretched for hundreds of miles. Cowboys and naturalists passing through described acres of sociable rodents, who would pop out of the ground and greet them with high-pitched chatter. Those visitors didn’t know it, but they were being described in turn. These squeaks and yips make up the most elaborate animal vocalizations we humans have…
