Prairie dog and Clark in 1804. Lewis described it in more detail in 1806, calling it the "barking squirrel". On average, these stout-bodied rodents will grow to be between long, including the short tail, and weigh between . Sexual dimorphism in body mass in the prairie dog varies 105 to 136% between the sexes. Among the species, black-tailed prairie dogs tend to be the least sexually dimorphic, and white-tailed prairie dogs tend to be the most sexually dimorphic. Sexual dimorphism peaks during weaning, when the females lose weight and the males start eating more, and is at its lowest when the females
Black-tailed prairie dog more often than those that did not. In addition, the caller may be trying to make itself more noticeable to the predator. However, a predator seems to have difficulty determining which prairie dog is making the call due to its "ventriloquistic" nature. Also, when a prairie dog makes a call, the others seem not to run into the burrows, but stand on the mounds to see where the predator is, making themselves visible to the predator. Perhaps the most conspicuous prairie dog communication is the territorial call or "jump-yip" display. A prairie dog will stretch the length of its body