Montana Field Guide

White-tailed Prairie Dog - Cynomys leucurus

White-tailed prairie dogs are medium-sized squirrel-like rodents and are smaller than the only other prairie dog found in Montana - the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludoviscianus). Adults weigh around 500 grams and males are about 36 centimeters long and females 31 centimeters long (Foresman 2001). The legs are short and the feet have well developed claws for digging. The tail is short and flattened and has a whitish tip. The back is a yellowish-buff mixed with black that becomes lighter on the belly. They also have distinctive brownish-black patches above the eyes and on the cheeks.

Montana Range

White-tailed prairie dogs are non-migratory. Juveniles disperse to other colonies or the periphery of their natal colony in September/October.

Throughout their range, white-tailed prairie dogs inhabit xeric sites with mixed stands of shrubs and grasses. In Montana they inhabit these habitats dominated by two types of vegetation: areas with Nuttall saltbrush with lesser amounts of big sage, and areas with povery sumpweed and winter fat (Flath 1979). They live at higher elevations and in meadows with more diverse grass and herb cover than do black-tailed prairie dogs (Hoffmann, in Wilson and Ruff 1999) and their range in Montana is at higher elevations than other areas across their distribution.

White tailed prairie dogs feed primarily on forbs. Early spring diets in Colorado showed white-tailed prairie dogs fed heavily on sagebrush and saltbush, with a shift towards dandelions and goosefoot as these forbs became available (Foresman 2001). Food habits in Montana are probably similar.

Colonies in Montana average 54 acres. They do not clip vegetation like black-tailed prairie dogs. Maternity burrows are extensively excavated and can be identified by the presence of current accessory digging (Flath 1978, 1979).

No specific reproductive information is available for Montana, however in other parts of their range breeding occurs shortly after female emergence from hibernation in late March and early April (Clark et al. 1971). Gestation requires about 30 days and young are born in late April and early May. Litter sizes range from 2 to 8 and average around 5 young (Flath 1979). One litter is produced annually. Juveniles appear above ground in early June, 5 to 7 weeks after birth. Both sexes breed as 1-year-olds.

Prairie dogs in Montana are currently a species in need of management and as such, shooting of prairie dogs on public lands (excluding state school trust lands) is regulated. These lands are currently closed to shooting within the range of white-tailed prairie dogs. Please consult Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for the most current regulations concerning prairie dogs. White-tailed prairie dogs are managed under the Conservation Plan for Black-tailed and White-tailed Prairie Dogs in Montana (Montana Prairie Dog Working Group 2002). Please consult this plan for details concerning prairie dog management in Montana.