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
Gunnison's prairie dog of the most advanced forms of natural language known to science." The bark is a combination of one or two high-pitched audible syllables, with the second syllable lower and deeper. Prairie dogs have a unique sound to identify each of various predators. They also have different barks for warning and "all-clear" signals. Researchers and experts have been able to classify up to 11 distinct warning calls the prairie dog uses to communicate. Also, females with offspring are more likely to give off a warning bark than males. The warning signal is their primary source of survival because it alerts the