Prairie dogs
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Sciuridae
Tribe:	Marmotini
Genus:	Cynomys Rafinesque 1817

Prairie dogs are a genus of ground squirrels. They are small, burrowing rodents which live in short-grass prairies and the high plains of western USA and Mexico. The explorers Lewis and Clark sent a prairie dog to President Thomas Jefferson during their expedition; it was quite strange to him.

Prairie dogs are found in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In Mexico, they are mostly found in the northern states, which are the southern end of the great plains: northeastern Sonora, north and northeastern Chihuahua, northern Coahuila, northern Nuevo León, and northern Tamaulipas; in the U.S., they range primarily west of the Mississippi River, though they have also been introduced in a few eastern locales. They will eat all sorts of vegetables and fruits.