clipped from www.britannica.com

Prairie dogs excavate elaborate burrow systems with many entrances marked by low or volcano-shaped mounds. The common black-tailed (C. ludovicianus) and Mexican (C. mexicanus) species live in large, dense colonies that early explorers described as “towns.”

Natural predators of prairie dogs include badgers, wolves, coyotes, bobcats, black-footed ferrets, golden eagles, and large hawks. Once abundant, prairie dog populations have been drastically reduced in range and number by poisoning programs of ranchers who have considered them as pests and by conversion of habitat to cropland. The black-tailed prairie dog (C. ludovicianus) is the most widespread, living throughout the Great Plains from Canada to northern Mexico