These ground squirrels, along with the marmots, chipmunks, and several other genera belong to the ground squirrels tribe of Marmotini, which is part of the larger squirrel subfamily of Xerinae and the family of Sciuridae.

Prairie dogs are herbivorous burrowing mammals native to the grasslands of North America. Within the genus Cynomys, there are five species as listed below.

In the United States, they range primarily to the west of the Mississippi River, though they have also been introduced in a few eastern locales. They are also found in the Canadian Prairies.

In Mexico, prairie dogs are found primarily in the northern states, which lie near the southern end of the Great Plains in the Mexican states of: northeastern Sonora, north and northeastern Chihuahua, northern Coahuila, northern Nuevo León, and northern Tamaulipas.

Despite their common name, Prairie Dogs are not actually canines but are a large species of squirrel family, which are in the order of Rodents.

This species is one of the two prairie dogs described by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the journals of their expedition.

Black-tailed prairie dogs are tan in color, with lighter bellies. They may have color variation in their pelt, such as darker brown tones of fur on their back. Their tails have black tips, from which their name is derived.

Adults weigh from 1.5 pounds to 3.0 pounds with males typically heavier than females. Their body is compact, with a length from 14 inches to 17 inches and a tail if 3 to 4 inches. The ears are small and close to the head.

The claws of this species, used for digging, are long and black.

Black-tailed prairie dogs are native to grassland habitats in North America. They inhabit short-grass prairie, mixed-grass prairie, sagebrush steppe, and desert grassland. Colonies generally occur near rivers and creeks but can also be near reservoirs or even in flat areas.

Black-tailed prairie dogs are diurnal, or daytime active. Above-ground activity is reduced when rain or snow is falling and during days when the temperature exceeds 100 °F.

During the winter months, black-tailed prairie dogs do not fully hibernate, instead, they continue to leave the burrow to forage, but will enter a state of torpor at night to conserve energy. Torpor is categorized by a drop in metabolism, heart rate and respiration similar to hibernation, but is involuntary and shorter in duration. On average, black-tailed prairie dogs will lose twenty percent of their body weight during the fall and winter seasons when they go through bouts of torpor.

These ground squirrels can be found throughout the Great Plains region from the Canadian Grasslands southward through the US states of Montana North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and into northern Mexico

After viewing the earth lodge, I return to the road west back to the southern unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and drive the loop in this unit.

While I am touring this park, I see one bison, a few deer, numerous feral horses and many prairie dogs.