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Black-tailed prairie dog
Cynomys ludovicianus
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 USA-Canada border to the USA-Mexico border. Unlike some other prairie dogs, these animals do not truly hibernate. The Black-tailed prairie dog can be seen aboveground in midwinter. There is a report of a Black-tailed prairie dog town in Texas that covered 64,000 km2 (25,000 sq mi) and included 400,000,000 individuals. Prior to habitat destruction, this species was probably the most abundant prairie dog in central North America.
Black-tailed prairie dogs are ground squirrels who live in underground burrows.

The entrances to their burrows are on top of either dome-like mounds or volcano-like craters which can be as high as one metre.

These mounds help the prairie dogs to scan the area for predators and prevent flooding in the burrow.

Diet
Black-tailed prairie dogs eat mainly leaves, stems and the roots of grasses.

Size
Body length can be up to 41.5 centimetres and prairie dogs can weigh up to 1.6 kilograms.

Location
Black-tailed prairie dogs are found in open, level, arid, short grass plains from Texas, USA up to Canada.
Key to acronyms

EEP = European Endangered Species Programme
CITES = Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
IUCN = International Union for Conservation of Nature
ESB = European Studbook