Prairie Dog

Prairie dogs are small stout-bodied burrowing rodents with shallow cheek pouches native to both North and Central America. An average size is 12 to 16 inches (30 to 40 cm) long. In the United States prairie dogs are primarily found west of the Mississippi River, but they have been introduced into a few eastern locales. All are herbivores, and in settled regions they sometimes damage crops severely. They have been eliminated from certain areas of the Great Plains where ranchers regard them as pests. The mass culling of the prairie dog lead to the near extinction of the black-footed ferret, which eats the prairie dog.