Prairie dog other distraction. This action is thought to resemble the startled response of a group of prairie dogs. Prairie dog Prairie dogs (genus Cynomys) are herbivorous burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. The five species are: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah, and Mexican prairie dogs. They are a type of ground squirrel, found in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In Mexico, prairie dogs are found primarily in the northern states, which lie at the southern end of the Great Plains: northeastern Sonora, north and northeastern Chihuahua, northern Coahuila, northern Nuevo León, and northern Tamaulipas. In the United States,
Black-tailed prairie dog eagles ("Aquila chrysaetos"), ferruginous hawks ("Buteo regalis"), red-tailed hawks ("Buteo jamaicensis"), and prairie rattlesnakes ("Crotalus viridis"). Although now very rare, black-footed ferrets ("Mustela nigripes") were once a major predator of the black-tailed prairie dog. Black-tailed prairie dogs have been called "ecosystem engineers" due to their influence on the biotic and abiotic characteristics of their habitat, landscape architecture, and ecosystem structure and function. Research suggests black-tailed prairie dogs are a keystone species in some, but not all, geographic areas. Black-tailed prairie dogs enhance the diversity of vegetation, vertebrates, and invertebrates through their foraging and burrowing activities and by their presence as