Black-tailed Prairie Dog Photos

One of my favorite things to do in South Dakota is to walk Prairie Dog towns with my camera. The life the towns support, other than the Prairie Dogs themselves, is amazing. It's sad to see how they're treated in the state, with "hunters" going on prairie dog hunts, just to shoot them for target practice and leave them to die. And you have ranchers poisoning entire towns, and convincing government to even poison towns on the edges of protected lands. This, despite research showing that vegetation around prairie dog towns is MORE nutritious for grazing cattle. People are just so damn ignorant sometimes.

Very misunderstood, and persecuted, creatures. Click on the thumbnails below for high-resolution photos.

Black-tailed Prairie Dog - Cynomys ludovicianus


Black-tailed Prairie Dog 1	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 2	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 3	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 4
May 24th, 2008	September 5th, 2009	July 4th, 2005	May 24th, 2008
Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota	Fort Pierre National Grasslands, South Dakota	Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota
Alert prairie dog on gravel road	Prairie Dog about to bolt into its burrow	Pair poking their heads out of their burrow	Side view of prairie dog on side of a gravel road

Black-tailed Prairie Dog 5	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 6	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 7	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 8
May 24th, 2008	September 5th, 2009	September 5th, 2009	May 24th, 2008
Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota	Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota
Prairie dog having an afternoon snack	Single prairie dog ready to disappear into its burrow	Foraging in the grass near the home burrow	Closeup of head and upper body

Black-tailed Prairie Dog 9	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 10	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 11	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 12
July 5th, 2010	July 5th, 2010	September 27th, 2011	July 30th, 2016
LaCreek National Wildlife Refuge, South Dakota	LaCreek National Wildlife Refuge, South Dakota	Fort Pierre National Grasslands, South Dakota	Teddy Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
Cautious prairie dog at burrow entrance	Pair of young prairie dogs with surrounding habitat	Alert prairie dog at the burrow entrance	Young looking prairie dog chilling at his burrow

Black-tailed Prairie Dog 13	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 14	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 15	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 16
July 30th, 2016	June 25th, 2020	June 25th, 2020	June 25th, 2020
Teddy Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota
Closeup of head and upper body	Detailed view of prairie dog in warm evening light	Head poking out of burrow	Pair having a little chat on the burrow mound

Black-tailed Prairie Dog 17	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 18	Black-tailed Prairie Dog 19
September 2nd, 2018	September 2nd, 2018	September 2nd, 2018
Custer State Park, South Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota	Custer State Park, South Dakota
Very fat prairie dog watching the sunset	Prairie dog in late evening sun	Young prairie dog foraging on colony grounds