Animal
Black-tailed prairie dog
The black-tailed prairie dog is not a dog at all. It is a chubby ground squirrel that lives with its family in underground towns on the grassy plains.
Black-tailed prairie dogs are sociable ground squirrels of North America's Great Plains. They dig huge underground towns, keep the grass short to watch for danger, and bark warnings to each other. Many other animals depend on their towns.
Cynomys ludovicianus is a colonial, burrowing sciurid of the Great Plains, from southern Saskatchewan to northern Mexico. A keystone species whose towns support many other vertebrates, it has lost about 98 percent of its historical area of occupancy to farming, poisoning and introduced sylvatic plague, though it remains Least Concern (IUCN).
Photo: LeonardoWeiss, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the prairie dog
The prairie dog is not a dog. It is a kind of ground squirrel!
It has tan fur, a pale tummy, little ears and big dark eyes. The tip of its tail is black. It got its name from its barking call.
The black-tailed prairie dog is a chubby rodent in the squirrel family, related to chipmunks and marmots. It is 36 to 43 centimeters long and weighs about half a kilogram to 1.4 kilograms.
Its fur is tan, the color of dry dirt, with a pale belly, and the tip of its tail is black. French explorers called these animals "little dogs" because of their bark-like calls. There are five kinds of prairie dog, and this is one of them.
Cynomys ludovicianus is one of five prairie dog species (with the Utah, Mexican, white-tailed and Gunnison's prairie dogs), all ground-dwelling members of the squirrel family, Sciuridae. Adults measure 14 to 17 inches (36 to 43 centimeters); the National Park Service gives 1 to 3 pounds and the Smithsonian's National Zoo 2 to 3 pounds.
The coat is tan with a whitish or buff belly, and the tail tip is sparsely covered in black hair, which separates this species from the white-tailed prairie dog. The eyes are large for the body and set, with the short ears, far back on the head. The name comes from French explorers' "petits chiens", little dogs, after the animal's bark-like calls.
Quick facts
- Group
- Mammal
- Length
- 0.36 to 0.43 m
- Weight
- 0.45 to 1.36 kg
- Lifespan in the wild
- up to 8 years
Towns on the Great Plains
Prairie dogs live on wide, flat grassy plains in North America.
They dig lots of burrows close together. A big group of burrows is called a town.
Black-tailed prairie dogs live on the Great Plains of North America, east of the Rocky Mountains, from southern Canada through the United States to northern Mexico. They like dry, flat grasslands with short plants and soil that is good for digging.
They dig many burrows close together to make a colony called a town. Each burrow has tunnels, rooms and several entrances, and can go 2 to 4.5 meters deep. A mound of earth at each entrance helps stop the burrow from flooding.
The IUCN describes a mainly Great Plains range, originally from the Frenchman River Valley of southern Saskatchewan and Montana south to the desert grasslands of western Texas, New Mexico, southeastern Arizona (now extirpated there) and northeastern Sonora and northern Chihuahua in Mexico. Habitat is dry, flat or gently sloping open grassland with low, sparse vegetation, often areas grazed heavily by cattle, and fine to medium-textured soils that hold burrow shape.
Burrows are usually U-shaped, 2 to 4.5 meters deep, with a grass-lined nest chamber near the bottom and listening chambers near the entrance (National Zoo). Multiple entrances give escape routes. Towns average less than 1.3 square kilometers today, but the IUCN notes they were once far larger: one town in central Oklahoma stretched 35 kilometers.
Continent
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Short and mixed grasslands of the Great Plains, from southern Saskatchewan and Montana to western Texas, New Mexico, northeastern Sonora and northern Chihuahua. Colonies are now scattered and cover a small part of each country shown.
Places: Canada, Mexico and United States.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Japan and 4 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
Grass clippers
Prairie dogs eat grass and other leafy plants.
They do not need to drink water. Their food has all the water they need. They keep the grass short around their town.
Grasses and leafy plants make up about 98 percent of a black-tailed prairie dog's diet. Now and then it eats grasshoppers, beetles or other bugs. Its food is so juicy that it does not need to drink water.
Prairie dogs also cut down plants taller than about 15 centimeters all around their town, even ones they do not eat. With the grass kept short, they can see predators coming from far away.
Grasses and leafy vegetation make up 98 percent of the diet, with occasional grasshoppers, cutworms and beetles; plant moisture covers the animal's water needs, so it does not drink (National Zoo). The National Park Service notes that prairie dogs pick forbs and grasses high in moisture and nutrients and vary their diet so no single plant is overgrazed.
They also clip vegetation taller than about 15 centimeters that they do not eat, keeping sightlines open for spotting predators and for communication. This clipping changes the plants: grazing stimulates fresh, more nutritious growth, forbs increase as grasses are cut back, and at the centers of towns grasses may give way to broadleaf herbs and small shrubs.
Did you know?
Long ago, one prairie dog town was bigger than some whole countries.
In 1901 scientists surveyed one giant prairie dog town that covered about 65,000 square kilometers and held an estimated 400 million prairie dogs.
The largest colony on record, surveyed in 1901, spanned more than 25,000 square miles (65,000 square kilometers) with an estimated 400 million prairie dogs (National Park Service, National Zoo).
Built for digging and watching
Prairie dogs have short, strong legs and long claws for digging.
Their big eyes and good ears help them spot danger. Then they dive into their burrows!
A prairie dog's body is made for digging. It has short, muscular legs and long-nailed toes on its front and back feet, perfect for scooping out tunnels.
Its big dark eyes and small ears are set far back on its head, so it can watch and listen while standing on its burrow mound. Its tan fur blends in with the dirt. In the fall it builds up a store of body fat to help it through the winter.
Short, muscular legs and long-nailed toes on all four feet suit a fossorial life of burrow digging (National Park Service). The eyes are large for the body and, with the small ears, placed far back on the head; prairie dogs rely on excellent hearing, vision and communication to avoid predators, scanning from the raised burrow mound.
The tan coat matches the soil of the mounds. Unlike most members of their family, black-tailed prairie dogs do not hibernate: they lay down large fat stores for fall and winter, stay underground for several days in harsh weather and come up to forage when winter conditions are mild.
Pups in the burrow
Baby prairie dogs are called pups.
They are born under the ground with no fur, and their eyes are closed. After about six weeks they come out to see the sunshine.
Black-tailed prairie dogs have one litter a year. They mate in late winter or early spring, often underground, and about a month later the mother gives birth to a litter of pups, usually between one and eight.
The pups are born blind and hairless. They stay in the burrow for about six weeks, then come up to the surface and soon start finding their own food. By fall they are nearly full grown, and they are ready to breed by about two years old.
Breeding happens once a year, between January and March depending on location (National Zoo); at Theodore Roosevelt National Park mating runs from March to early April. Gestation is about 30 days according to the National Zoo and a month according to the National Park Service. Litters are 1 to 6 (National Park Service) or 2 to 8 (National Zoo); the IUCN gives an average of about four. Most females mate with one male, and males with several females.
Pups are born blind and hairless and stay below ground for about six weeks. After they emerge they are weaned soon afterward, and the National Zoo notes that emerged pups will nurse from any nursing female. They are nearly full grown by fall and mature by two years. About half do not survive their first year, mainly because of predators.
Barks, kisses and lookouts
Prairie dogs live in family groups.
They greet each other with a sniff, like a kiss. One prairie dog keeps watch. If it sees danger, it barks, and everyone runs into the burrows!
A prairie dog town is split into family groups called coteries: usually one adult male, a few females and their young. Family members greet each other with a sniff or a "kiss", groom each other and work together on their burrows.
While others feed, a lookout stands on a mound watching for danger. If it spots a predator, it gives a string of barks, and the family dives underground. When the danger leaves, a prairie dog may stretch up and give a "jump-yip".
Towns are divided into coteries of one adult male, one to four females and their young up to two years old (National Zoo). Members recognize each other by a kiss or sniff and share grooming, play, burrow building, raising young and territorial defense, with the dominant male most active in defense (National Park Service). Young males usually move to another colony as they mature.
Alarm "chirks" warn of danger, and there is some evidence that the calls vary with the type of predator (National Zoo); the Park Service notes distinctive call patterns for specific threats, with tail flicks. The jump-yip, a back arch with a shrill call, follows a predator's departure or marks territory. In hot summers the animals are most active in the morning and evening. Predators include badgers, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, snakes and birds of prey.
Did you know?
Prairie dog burrows have special listening rooms.
Near the entrance of a burrow are listening rooms, where prairie dogs can listen for predators before going outside.
Listening chambers near burrow entrances let prairie dogs check for predators before emerging (National Zoo).
From huge towns to scattered colonies
Long ago there were huge prairie dog towns.
Now there are fewer, because people turned many plains into farms. Many animals need prairie dog towns. Today many prairie dogs live in parks.
Prairie dog towns used to cover about 40 million hectares of the Great Plains. Today they cover less than 1 million hectares, mostly because people turned prairie into farmland and towns, and poisoned or shot prairie dogs they saw as pests. A disease called plague, brought to North America by people, can also wipe out whole colonies.
The IUCN still lists the species as Least Concern because millions remain. Many live in parks and refuges, where their towns help other animals.
The IUCN assessed Cynomys ludovicianus as Least Concern in 2016 (errata 2017), with a decreasing trend: it is widespread and numbered in the millions, with an early-2000s estimate of 3.7 to 33.2 million (USFWS 2004). Occupied area fell from about 40 million hectares to about 766,400, a decline of about 98 percent, through conversion to cropland and urban land, fragmentation, and poisoning and shooting. Sylvatic plague, introduced to North America around 1899, can kill more than 99 percent of a colony.
Prairie dogs are a keystone species: the National Zoo says more than 170 vertebrate species are affected by them, and burrowing owls and prairie rattlesnakes shelter in their burrows. Their decline nearly eliminated the black-footed ferret, which preys on them and is now being reintroduced. The Park Service asks visitors not to feed or handle prairie dogs, which can bite and may carry fleas that transmit plague.
IUCN Red List
How is the black-tailed prairie dog doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2
Amazing facts
-
Prairie dogs never need to drink water.
Black-tailed prairie dogs get all the water they need from the plants they eat, so they do not drink.
Their mostly herbivorous diet supplies all their water; the National Zoo notes that black-tailed prairie dogs do not need to drink.
-
Long ago, one prairie dog town was bigger than some whole countries.
In 1901 scientists surveyed one giant prairie dog town that covered about 65,000 square kilometers and held an estimated 400 million prairie dogs.
The largest colony on record, surveyed in 1901, spanned more than 25,000 square miles (65,000 square kilometers) with an estimated 400 million prairie dogs (National Park Service, National Zoo).
-
Prairie dogs greet their family with a kiss.
Members of a prairie dog family recognize each other with a sniff or a "kiss".
Coterie members identify each other by an identifying kiss or sniff, which helps hold the group together (National Park Service).
-
Prairie dog burrows have special listening rooms.
Near the entrance of a burrow are listening rooms, where prairie dogs can listen for predators before going outside.
Listening chambers near burrow entrances let prairie dogs check for predators before emerging (National Zoo).
Words to know
- town
- a big colony of prairie dog burrows
- coterie
- a prairie dog family group inside a town
- keystone species
- an animal that many other living things in its home depend on
- sentinel
- an animal that keeps watch for danger while others feed
- plague
- a serious disease, spread by fleas, that can kill whole prairie dog colonies
- rodent
- a gnawing mammal, such as a squirrel, mouse or prairie dog
Discovery challenge
-
What kind of animal is a prairie dog?
Prairie dogs are not dogs. What kind of animal are they?
To which family do prairie dogs belong?
- A small wolf
- A bird
- A rodent in the squirrel family
Show the answer
A rodent in the squirrel family
A prairie dog is a kind of ground squirrel.
They are rodents in the squirrel family, related to chipmunks and marmots. Their name comes from their bark-like calls.
Sciuridae, the squirrel family; they are close relatives of ground squirrels, chipmunks and marmots.
-
What is a big group of prairie dog homes called?
What is a prairie dog colony called?
What name is given to a black-tailed prairie dog colony?
- A hive
- A town
- A nest
Show the answer
A town
It is called a town!
A town, made of many burrows close together and split into family groups called coteries.
A town, subdivided into coteries of one adult male, several females and their young.
-
Why does a prairie dog bark?
Why does a prairie dog lookout bark?
What is the main purpose of a prairie dog's alarm calls?
- To warn others of danger
- To ask for food
- To call the rain
Show the answer
To warn others of danger
It barks to tell its family that danger is near.
The lookout barks to warn the town that a predator is near, and everyone dives into the burrows.
Alarm calls alert the colony to predators; call patterns may differ with the type of threat.
-
What do prairie dogs mostly eat?
What makes up most of a black-tailed prairie dog's diet?
About 98 percent of the black-tailed prairie dog's diet is made of what?
- Fish
- Grasses and leafy plants
- Other animals
Show the answer
Grasses and leafy plants
They mostly eat grass and leafy plants.
Grasses and leafy plants, with a few insects now and then.
Grasses and leafy vegetation; insects such as grasshoppers and beetles are eaten occasionally.
Places where you might see it
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Watch
Country
United States
The United States is a large country in North America made of 50 states, from icy Alaska to the warm islands of Hawaii. It has the Grand Canyon, the Mississippi River and Yellowstone, and about 342 million people live there.
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Watch
Country
Mexico
Mexico is a large country in southern North America, between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. It has smoking volcanoes, ancient cities built by the Maya and other peoples, and about 132 million people, many of them in and around Mexico City.
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Country
United States
The United States is a large country in North America made of 50 states, from icy Alaska to the warm islands of Hawaii. It has the Grand Canyon, the Mississippi River and Yellowstone, and about 342 million people live there.
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Country
Mexico
Mexico is a large country in southern North America, between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. It has smoking volcanoes, ancient cities built by the Maya and other peoples, and about 132 million people, many of them in and around Mexico City.
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Burrowing owl
The burrowing owl is a small, sandy-brown owl with long legs and bright yellow eyes. Unlike most owls, it lives underground, in burrows dug by prairie dogs, ground squirrels or tortoises, or sometimes by the owls themselves. It lives in open grasslands and deserts from Canada to the tip of South America.
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American bison
The American bison is the largest land animal in North America. Once tens of millions roamed the Great Plains, but by the 1890s fewer than a thousand were left. Careful protection, starting with a tiny herd in Yellowstone, brought bison back.
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Red-tailed hawk
The red-tailed hawk is probably the most common hawk in North America. It soars in wide circles over fields or waits on a pole or fence post, watching for voles, mice and rabbits, then drops down to catch them with its sharp talons.
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Meerkat
Meerkats are small members of the mongoose family that live in dry, open country in southern Africa. They live in groups called mobs, dig for insects all day, and take turns as lookouts, standing tall and calling out if an eagle or jackal comes near. Everyone helps raise the babies.
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Aardvark
The aardvark is a shy night digger of African savannas. It sniffs out ant and termite nests, rips them open with its spade-like claws and laps up the insects with a sticky tongue about 30 centimeters long. Its name means 'earth pig' in Afrikaans.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Explain that prairie dogs are burrowing rodents in the squirrel family.
- Describe how prairie dogs live in towns and family groups and warn each other of danger.
- Explain what a keystone species is, using prairie dog towns as an example.
- Describe why prairie dog towns have shrunk and how people protect them.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might keeping the grass short help a prairie dog stay safe?
- Which other animals would miss prairie dog towns if they disappeared, and why?
- How could farmers and prairie dogs share the plains?
Try at home or in class
- Draw a cross-section of a prairie dog burrow with an entrance mound, listening room, tunnels and a nest room.
- Play lookout: one person watches for a "hawk" (a toy or picture) and calls a warning, and everyone else crouches down.
Key vocabulary: town, coterie, keystone species, sentinel, plague, rodent
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Cynomys ludovicianus (global assessment) , IUCN Red List
- Black-tailed prairie dog , Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
- Prairie Dogs , Theodore Roosevelt National Park, U.S. National Park Service
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 24, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.