The prairie dogs got their name from the sound that they make when danger is near. They give warning barks or yips. They have numerous other calls that total over fifty distinct “words”.
Kissing, hugging, and grooming are regular pastimes of the prairie dog.
The black-tailed prairie dog is a member of the squirrel family. Of the five species of prairie dogs in western North America, only the black-tailed prairie dog lives in the Great Plains. It has a black-tipped tail, brown fur, large black eyes and short legs and sharp claws developed for digging burrows. They are approximately 12 inches tall, 15 inches long, and weighs 1 to 3 pounds.
Prairie dogs are colonial animals that live in complex networks of tunnels with multiple openings. Colonies are easily identified by the raised-burrow entrances that give the prairie dogs some extra height when acting as sentries and watching for predators or signs of danger. The tunnels contain separate "rooms" for sleeping, rearing young, storing food, and eliminating waste.
Prairie dogs feed on leaves, grasses, roots, weeds, seeds, and other plants including alfalfa and corn. They also eat grasshoppers, cutworms, bugs, and beetles. They do not need to drink water because they get all the fluid they need from the leafy foods that they eat. Prairie dogs eat the majority of their food during the warmer months in order to store up enough fat to sustain them through the winter.
Prairie dogs are very social and live in closely knit family groups called "coteries". Coteries usually contain an adult male, one or more adult females, and their young offspring. These coteries are grouped together into wards (or neighborhoods) and several wards make up a colony or town. Prairie dogs have a complex system of communication that includes a variety of pitched warning barks that signal different types of predators. Prairie dogs earned their name from settlers traveling across the plains who thought that these warning calls sounded similar to dogs barking.
Black-tailed prairie dogs once numbered in the hundreds of millions – maybe even over 1 billion – and were possibly the most abundant mammal in North America. Due to a variety of reasons, their numbers have decreased by over 95%. Today the total population is estimated at 10-20 million. Habitat destruction, poisoning, shooting, and disease are the contributing factors to the major reduction in population. The remaining prairie dog colonies are small and fragmented, separated by great expanses of cropland and human development. Prairie dog colony losses continue today due to all of these threats. Because of this black-tailed prairie dogs have been granted a “Warranted but Precluded” Threatened Species listing, which means that biologically they deserve protection, however the government does not have the resources required for enforcement at this time.
The prairie dog can live 3 to 5 years in the wild and up to 8 years in captivity.