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
Battle of Prairie Dog Creek (1876) wounds, one of the soldiers' mule's killed, and two of the soldiers' horses wounded. The soldiers seemed to have rather enjoyed the skirmish, since it relieved the boredom in their otherwise mundane life in bivouac. Since the soldiers' mounts were well secured, the Cheyenne's suffered only a lost opportunity to steal some horses. Most of the same combatants that fought at Prairie Dog Creek on both sides, would soon move north and see action at the Battle of the Rosebud, only eight days later. And many of the Cheyenne warriors would also fight in the Battle of the Little Bighorn,