Sometimes you gotta wonder....

Prairie dogs are essentially ball shaped. I feel it necessary to point this out, because when they're out doing normal things individually (i.e. eating, chasing, stretching) they don't appear remotely rotund. It's just when they're attempting to groom themselves that they become spherical. Take 29 for example. He was in his usual position, slouched over on a burrow mound, when he appeared to get an itch somewhere in the vicinity of his inner lower leg. He attempted to hunch over more to scratch with a front leg, which apparently failed to relieve his irritation, so he reached down with his teeth to do some serious work...and unintentionally rocked back to perform a perfect backwards somersault. Unperturbed, he righted himself, and went back about his business of relieving his itch. I was not so nonchalant.
While 29 was dealing with his issue, WJun was getting more and more 'good lookin'. Soon after his grooming overhaul, 29 straighted his tie and sauntered over. Like the gentleman he is, he escorted her down a burrow, popping his head back out to glance suspiciously around. They were down together for over 30 minutes. When they came up, 29 apparently decided that he was involvement was complete, so he wandered off to start eating. WJun thought differently. She was subtle at first; she sidled up to him, bumping him seductively with her rather flat butt. She was ignored. Her next approach was more direct. She slowly fed her way over to him, making it obvious she was just there for the delectable straw, and then...whooops! kiss!! He failed to be even remotely impressed, chasing her away. WJun refused to quit, and for the next 20 minutes solicited, only to be jumped on (not in the way she wanted though), chased, and fought with. I was ready to smack 29 over the head; he had spent the last week keeping 2 away from WJun, and on the big day only wanted her to suit his needs. Typical male. As for 2, he was in his slug pose two burrows over..
During this one sided courtship, RR2 had a near death experience that made me question her intelligence. A Golden Eagle made a very credible attempt to grab her, but as she was on a burrow mound, he missed. I stared. Aside from the near miss, I realized how huge these birds really are, from his rippling wing muscles as he braked in mid air, to how tall he was standing next to a sage bush that comes up to my knees (he was taller). As I was contemplating this, RR2, the dummy, came back up the burrow to alarm call, before going right back down. I wanted to yell at her, to tell her the eagle was still there, and what was she thinking, due to give birth in a few days??? Sometimes you gotta wonder...