As I said in the last post, my main mission was to shoot some stills of the Utah Prairies Dogs and here are a couple of the keepers. It took a lot of patience to wait for these three to get lined up. They were in and out of the hole, sometimes a fourth would make an appearance but hang out in the back, or they wouldn't all be looking the same general direction. But I stuck with them and it paid off, even if the one on the left is squinting a little (I bet you would be too after being holed up for 4 months, then coming out to all that bright white snow . . .)

This "kissing" is a somewhat common behavior and a form of greeting/recognition of another member of the coterie. It really isn't so much a "kiss" but touching incisors. Though they live in colonies, each coterie has its territorial boundaries; if it were an interloper a fight would likely take place (though in late summer and fall they will often share "common areas" at the edges of their territories).