Prairie Dogs = Great

I love prairie dogs. Having never seen them anywhere but the zoo, I had little to think of them until entering Badlands National Park from the west and driving (very slowly) through a sizable prairie dog town. For those who have never seen this, think of a real life whack-a-mole game filled with critters resembling large short-haired guinea pigs or small groundhogs. The towns stand out from a mile away since the rodents bulldoze all the surrounding grassland (so they can see over it to look out for predators), and there are hundreds of animals, some standing watch on two legs, some eating, and some poking their heads out of holes. As if the wonders of the prairie dog town weren't enough, on the other side of badlands we were greeted by a 6'10" concrete statue of, you guessed it...