15 Facts About Shortgrass prairie

Shortgrass prairie is an ecosystem located in the Great Plains of North America.

The Shortgrass prairie was formerly maintained by grazing pressure of American bison, which is the keystone species.

Much of the shortgrass prairie is grazed by domestic livestock, with a human population that is dependent upon agriculture.

Shortgrass prairie is a long thin stretch of territory that starts at the top of the country and makes its way to the bottom.

The shortgrass prairie has a one to two month summer drought unlike the tall and mixed grass prairies.

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Shortgrass prairie was once filled with huge herds of free-ranging bison and pronghorn.

The Shortgrass prairie is home to healthy populations of plains blue grama, a vast array of songbirds and raptors, carpets of buffalo grass and a broad diversity and abundance of wildflowers and butterflies.

Today, the shortgrass prairie has suffered the greatest biological destruction of any major biome in North America.

Grassland birds that reside in the short grass Shortgrass prairie add to this decrease by being Colorado's largest category of declining animals.

Some of birds that still inhabit the short grass Shortgrass prairie are the Cassin's sparrow, loggerhead shrike, sandhill crane, scaled quail, Swainson's hawk, burrowing owl, mountain plover and thick-billed longspur.

Domestic cattle were placed in the Shortgrass prairie and have essentially replaced the native species that used to live in the short grass Shortgrass prairie such as bison and elk.

Prairie dogs were once the most abundant animals in the short grass Shortgrass prairie, living in colonies across a range that historically spanned 11 states.

Roughly half of the original Shortgrass prairie extent is still present, however conservation in the long run is uncertain.

Shortgrass prairie is located on the western side of the Great Plains with the Colorado Rockies to its west and the mixed grass prairie to its east.

The Shortgrass prairie extends to the eastern part of the Rocky Mountains to the west, up to Canada to the North, as far as Nebraska to the East, and as far as parts of Texas to the South.