White-tailed Prairie Dog
(
Cynomys leucurus )
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White Tailed Prairie Dog, Hutton Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Laramie Wyoming.
Photograph by Devon . License: Public Domain. |
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MAMMAL FACTS
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Description
The White-tailed Prairie Dog is yellowish in color with black streaks. It has a blackish-brown spot above the eye and on the cheek. The tail hairs are white, sometimes banded with black and reddish color near the base. White-tailed Prairie Dogs dig burrows in colonies.
Size
Length: 34cm - 37cm. Tail length: 4 cm - 6.5cm
Environment
grasslands, plains
Food
herbaceous plants and grass
Breeding
A litter 3-8 young are born after a gestation of about 30 days.
Range
found in the Western United States - Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana
Notes
Prairie Dogs have been hunted intensively as it was believed that they had a negative impact on grasslands for livestock.
Classification
| Class: | Mammalia | | Order: | Rodentia | | Family: | Sciuridae | | Genus: | Cynomys | | Species: | leucurus | | Common Name: | White-tailed Prairie Dog |
Relatives in same Genus
Black-tailed Prairie Dog (C. ludovicianus)
Utah Prairie Dog (C. parvidens)
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