Prairie dog 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, they range primarily to the west of the Mississippi River, though they have also been introduced in
Black-tailed prairie dog activities keep plant development in a suppressed vegetative state with higher nutritional qualities, herbivores, including red deer ("Cervus elaphus"), American bison, pronghorn ("Antilocapra americana"), and domestic cattle often prefer foraging in black-tailed prairie dog colonies. Animals that depend on herbaceous cover in sagebrush habitat, such as mule deer ("Odocoileus hemionus") and sage grouse ("Centrocercus" spp.), may be deterred by the decreased vegetative cover on black-tailed prairie dog colonies. For a list of vertebrate species associated with black-tailed prairie dog colonies, see. Biodiversity in shortgrass prairies may be at risk due to the reductions in distribution and occurrence of black-tailed prairie