Black-Tailed Prairie Dog

The Black-Tailed prairie dog is tan with streaks of grey and a white belly. Their tails are black at the tops. While prairie dogs are not in danger of extinction, many other species are directly dependent on the prairie dog population. For example, the black-footed ferret eats roughly 100 prairie dogs a year and cannot survive without access to them. Native to the American plains and prairies west of the Mississippi river, the largest prairie dog town on record was discovered in Texas and contained over 400 million prairie dogs.