Black-tailed prairie dog Black-tailed prairie dog The black-tailed prairie dog ("Cynomys ludovicianus") is a rodent of the family Sciuridae found in the Great Plains of North America from about the United States-Canada border to the United States-Mexico border. Unlike some other prairie dogs, these animals do not truly hibernate. The black-tailed prairie dog can be seen above ground in midwinter. A black-tailed prairie dog town in Texas was reported to cover and included 400,000,000 individuals. Prior to habitat destruction, this species may have been the most abundant prairie dog in central North America. This species was one of two described by the Lewis
Utah prairie dog consume flowers in shrubs. Utah prairie dogs choose only few species of grasses only that are native to the soil. Utah prairie dog shows polyandry behavior, and lays only one litter per year, which generally consists of 1 to 8 litter size. The breeding occurs generally from mid-March through early April. They build extensive "towns" of underground tunnels and chambers, each town composed of a population of members of an extended prairie dog family group called “clan”, and they forage from dawn to dusk. The species appears in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with a status of Endangered,