A ground squirrel of North American grasslands. It digs underground tunnels and chambers and lives in colonies.
It has a tan body, a pale belly, short ears and black hairs at the tip of the tail.
Black-tailed prairie dogs perform a jump-yip by rising onto their hindlegs and giving a high-pitched call. When researchers played a recording of this call from another colony, listeners performed more jump-yips themselves. Sound alone elicited a response even though the original caller was absent.
The 2019 study conducted 26 experiments during May and June of 2016 and 2017 in Thunder Basin National Grassland, Wyoming. Recordings came from a colony outside the experimental sites, and speakers were concealed behind vegetation. Each experiment began with ten minutes without playback, followed by ten minutes of ambient bird and insect sounds, then ten minutes of either alarm or jump-yip calls. Jump-yip playback increased jump-yip performance compared with no playback. At sites hearing alarm calls, prairie dogs spent more time vigilant and less time foraging than during ambient playback. Different call types thus produced different changes in colony behaviour.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes a black-tailed prairie dog translocation project at Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado. Major plague outbreaks in 2015 and 2016 eliminated most prairie dog populations on the base. From 2019 through 2023, animals were moved from base property and land belonging to the Colorado Department of Transportation and private landowners to a restoration site within the depot. University researchers are examining behaviour and the effects of these moves. Establishing enough occupied colonies to reintroduce black-footed ferrets is a long-term goal.