Black-tailed Prairie Dog

males 36 - 43 cm, females 34 - 40 cm

males 575 - 1,490 g; females 765 - 1,030 g

1 - 8

33 - 38 days

occupies narrow bands of short to mid-grass prairies from Canada in the north to Mexico in the south

primarily leaves, stems, and roots of grasses, weeds, and forbs; sometimes insect

most social of the ground- dwelling sciurids; colonies (or towns) may contain hundreds of individuals (largest colony covered an area of 65,000 km² and contained and estimated 400 million of animals)

8 - 11 years in human care