How Do They Live?
Black-tailed prairie dogs are very social animals who live in territorial family groups called coteries. A coterie usually contains an adult male, one or more adult females, and their young. As young male prairie dogs mature, they move out of their home coterie in order to find or create new coteries. Coteries are clustered together in wards (or subdivisions) to form larger towns or colonies, which create increased protection from predators. Wards are usually divided by topographical features such as trees or hills. Interactions are mostly amicable among prairie dogs belonging to the same coterie and involve verbal communications, play, and grooming. Interactions among prairie dogs from different coteries tend to be less friendly and even hostile, involving territorial disputes and associated aggressive behaviors.
Black-tailed prairie dogs have an amazingly complex system of communication that involves a variety of verbal sounds and behavioral displays. One of these, the "jump-yip" display, is a territorial call in which they stand up on their hind legs and throw their forefeet up in the air, emitting a two-note call. They also have a variety of pitched warning barks that signal different types of predators. Prairie dogs also communicate through smell and touch, often greeting by touching each other's mouths (hence the appearance of kissing).
In fact, recent research indicates a high degree of sophistication in prairie dog communication. They can distinguish between people wearing different colored clothing and people exhibiting either threatening or nonthreatening types of behavior. In addition, prairie dogs use sounds in different orders and at various speeds, suggesting a grammatical component to their communication. These findings have led Con Slobodchikoff, a researcher studying prairie dog communications at Northern Arizona University, to assert that they "have one of the most advanced forms of natural language known to science."
Prairie dogs live in networks of underground tunnels and burrows with one or more openings to the surface. These burrows can be very extensive, with separate underground chambers used for sleeping, rearing young, storing food and eliminating waste. The openings, or burrow entrances, are distinguishable by the mounds of dirt surrounding them and serve as protection against both predators and the weather. Black-tailed prairie dogs spend much of their time above ground (with periodic submergences into their burrows) during daylight hours, but they retreat underground for the night.