Burrow shape creates ventilation: prairie dog

1 of 1 Prairie Dog in habitat / Mike Vadala / License

Burrows of black-tailed prairie dogs create own ventilation by causing a lower air pressure that pulls stale air out of the burrow.

Biomimicry Taxonomy

	Get, store, or distribute resources >
	Distribute >
	Gases

Biomimetic Application Ideas

Use for passive ventilation system in buildings and vehicles. Induce air to run through ground system for heating or cooling- by adjusting the shape of the tube. Constantly sample air or fluid through a induced flow sensor.

[Collapse all sections] Summary

"Where a fluid flows across a surface, such as wind over the earth, the velocity gradient created provides a potential source of work. This gradient might be employed by one burrowing animal to induce air-flow in its long, narrow burrow. The burrow of the black-tailed prairie-dog constitutes a respiratory dead-space of extraordinary magnitude in which diffusion appears inadequate for gas exchange. But the burrow is arranged in a manner appropriate for wind-induced ventilation, typically with two openings at opposite ends and with mounds surrounding these openings of two forms (Fig. 3), with one form on each end. When a breeze crosses the mounds, air enters the burrow through the lower mound and leaves through the higher. The same unidirectional flow is evident with scale models of real mounds on a model burrow in a wind tunnel; flow inside the burrow is nearly a linear function of flow across the mounds (Fig. 4). Wind-induced ventilation in the model burrow could also be induced with model mounds differing in shape but not height. Mounds with sharp rims were more effective exits for air than mounds with rounded tops; in nature such shape differences complement the differences in height." (Vogel et al. 1973: 1)

About the inspiring organism

Black-tailed prairie dog
Cynomys ludovicianus (Ord, 1815)
[Arizona black-tailed prairie dog]

IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern
Habitat(s): Artificial - Terrestrial, Desert, Grassland, Savanna

Some organism data provided by: ITIS: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System
Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Use for passive ventilation system in buildings and vehicles. Induce air to run through ground system for heating or cooling- by adjusting the shape of the tube. Constantly sample air or fluid through a induced flow sensor.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Construction, transportation, geothermal energy, ecological monitoring

References

Vogel, S.; Ellington, C. P.; Kilgore, D. L. 1973. Wind-induced ventilation of the burrow of the prairie-dog, Cynomys ludovicianus. Journal of Comparative Physiology A: Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology. 85(1): 1-14.

Content tools

Curator of this page

Are you an expert on this topic? Apply to be a curator >

Comments

thanks!!

Read full comments >