Black-tailed Prairie Dog
- Cynomys ludovicianus
- The black-tailed prairie dogs average 11 to 12 ½ inches in length with a dark to golden brown coat with the characteristic black tail.
- Their diet consists of grasses and vegetation in grassland areas in 10 states including Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.
- They are one of the most social rodent species, typically living in groups of 8 to 10 animals. In 1900, a huge prairie dog colony, 100 miles by 250 miles, was reported on the high plains of Texas containing an estimated 400 million prairie dogs!
- Prairie dogs have a sophisticated animal language, they use a high-pitched, bark-like call and whines to warn the town of hawks, owls, eagles, ravens, coyotes, badgers, ferrets and snakes.
- Prairie dogs are considered an agricultural pest by ranchers and farmers because of their burrows. They are often exterminated in attempts to keep cattle from stepping into the holes and breaking legs.
Location at Palm Beach Zoo
- Near the contact yard and Burmese python.
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