White Tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys leucurus)

Status of species: Rare

A white-tailed prairie dog mother protects her young at the Arapahoe Wildlife Refuge outside of Walden, Colorado. By standing on the mound near her natal burrow, this prairie dog mother can gain a better view of possible predators.
Photo by Theodore G. Manno.

Distribution: Extreme southern Montana, western and central Wyoming, northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah

General Description: White-tailed prairie dogs are social ground squirrels that live in the highlands of the interior northwestern United States. Although gregarious, they are perhaps the least social species of prairie dog. Several other ways in which white-tails differ from their black-tailed cousins (besides their obviously different tail-tip color) include (1) preference for high-grass prairie areas, whereas black-tails prefer low grass prairies; (2) high altitude living (1700-3000 meters) while black-tails prefer low altitudes (700-1700 meters); (3) smaller colony sizes and more loosely constructed family groups under natural conditions; (4) hibernation, whereas black-tails are active all year; (5) infanticide probably does not occur as often or among females within a coterie as in black-tails; (6) white-tails live in clusters of female kin that are dominated by a reproductive male, but the groups are not as tightly knit as those of black-tails; (7) white-tails have not been studied extensively, although a long-term study is underway; (8) white-tails can be identified by a black spot above their eye which is not present in black-tails.

Behavior: Unlike other prairie dog species, behavioral observations of white-tails are not abundant. White-tails live in harem-polygynous family groups within medium-sized and semi-dense colonies. Sniffing, kissing, and grooming occur among members of these groups but not with the same frequency as in highly social black-tailed prairie dogs. Males compete and display aggression at a more moderate level.

A juvenile white-tailed prairie dog emerges from its natal burrow for a first look at the aboveground world. When the young of the year first first emerge in late May or early June, they are timid and barely do more than pop their heads out. Given a few days, they emerge fully, begin to explore, and keep watch for predators.
Photo by Theodore G. Manno.

Individuals of both sexes are thought to mature sexually at one year of age and to copulate aboveground with more frequency than other species of prairie dog. Young are apparently born in late April or early May, after a gestation period of around 30 days. They emerge aboveground in late May or early June. Instead of defending family groups of females after breeding, males defend their own home range and have no role in parental care. Juveniles disperse after birth. Courtship processes during estrus and copulation, presence of multiple paternity within litters, and avoidance of inbreeding have only been studied recently. All individuals hibernate during the winter.

White-tails scan for predators and give a loud, repetitive, clicking alarm call that they emit upon spotting a predator and running to a burrow. Predators such as badgers, coyotes, bobcats, long-tailed weasels, red foxes, ferrets, golden eagles, and prairie falcons all impact white-tail colonies. Introduced bubonic plague from fleas is also a major source of mortality in this species, and this leads to wide population fluctuations.

A burrow system provides several opportunities for escape from predators with a few entrances to each system of interconnected burrows. These burrows, unlike those of black-tailed prairie dogs, do not have rim craters to protect from flooding or allow for air circulation, and are shared by females and their young of the year.

Although infanticide has not been studied in white-tails, it is likely a lesser cause of juvenile mortality than in black-tails. More information on this species from long-term study is eagerly awaited.

Ecological Information: White-tailed prairie dogs eat lush green vegetation. They have no tolerance for shrubs in their colonies. They are important in the ecology of high-grass prairies as a food source for other animals. Their presence improves soil quality, and abandoned burrows make homes for other animals. As with other species of prairie dog, they are often considered a pest and are therefore victims of extermination.

Management Information: In July 2002, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received a formal petition to give protection to the white-tailed prairie dog under the Endangered Species Act. The court returned a negative ruling shortly following, and the efforts of scientists and coalitions continue.

References:

Anderson, S.H., and E.S. Williams. 1997. Plague in a complex of white-tailed prairie dogs and associated small mammals in Wyoming. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 33:720-732.
Bakko, E.B., and J. Nahorniak. 1986. Torpor patterns in captive white-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys leucurus). Journal of Mammalogy 67:576-578.
Bond, R.M. 1945. Range rodents and plant succession. Transactions of the North American Wildlife Conference 10:229-234.
Clark, T.W. 1968. Ecological Roles of Prairie dogs. Laramie, Wyoming: Wyoming Range Management, no. 261.
Clark, T.W. 1977. Ecology and Ethology of the white-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys leucurus). Milwaukee: Publications in Biology and Geology, the Milwaukee Public Museum, no. 3.
Clark, T.W. 1979. The hard life of the prairie dog. National Geographic 156:270-281.
Federal Register Notice: November 9, 2004. Notice of 90-day petition finding.
Harlow, H.J. 1997. Winter body fat, food consumption and nonshivering thermogenesis of representative spontaneous and facultative hibernators: the white-tailed prairie dog and black-tailed prairie dog. Journal of Thermal Biology 22:21-30.
Harlow, H.J., and C.L. Frank. 2001. The role of dietary fatty acids in the evolution of spontaneous and facultative hibernation patterns in prairie dogs. Journal of Comparative Physiology B-Biochemical Systemic and Environmental Physiology 171:77-84.
Heffner, R.S., H.E. Heffner, C. Contos, et al. 1994. Hearing in prairie dogs-transition between surface and subterranean rodents. Hearing Research 73:185-189.
Hoogland, J.L. 1979. The effect of colony size on individual alertness of prairie dogs. Animal Behaviour 27:394-407.
Hoogland, J.L. 1981. The evolution of coloniality in white-tailed and black-tailed prairie dogs. Ecology 62:252-272.
Hoogland, J.L. 2003. Sexual dimorphism of prairie dogs. Journal of Mammalogy 84: 1254-1266.
Manning, A.E.E., and C.M. White. 2001. Nest site selection by mountain plovers (Charadrius montanus) in a shrub-steppe habitat. Western North American Naturalist 61: 229-235.
Menkens, G.E., and S.H. Anderson. 1991. Population-dynamics of white-tailed prairie dogs during an epizootic of sylvatic plague. Journal of Mammalogy 72:328-331.
Press Release: November 9, 2004. Service will not conduct in-depth review to consider listing the white-tailed prairie dog and questions and answers.
Seville, R.S. 1997. Eimeria spp. (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from black- and white-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus and Cynomys leucurus) in central and southeast Wyoming. Journal of Parasitology 83:166-168.
Tileston, J.V., and R.R. Lechleitner. 1966. Some comparisons of black-tailed and white-tailed prairie dogs in north-central Colorado. American Midland Naturalist 75:292-316.
Ubico, S.R., G.O. Maupin, K.A. Fagerstone, et al. 1988. A plague epizootic in the white-tailed prairie dogs of Meeteetse, Wyoming. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 24:399-406.
Written by Theodore G. Manno (PhD student, Auburn University) and Elaine Miller Bond (http://elainebond.home.comcast.net)

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White Tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys leucurus)

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