Prairie Dog Town

Black-tailed prairie dogs live in large, social colonies, sometimes called towns, made up of family groups that share and defend networks of burrows. The animals communicate with a surprising range of barks and calls, including alarm calls that warn the whole town of approaching hawks, coyotes, or people.

Watching the colony, you can see this social life unfold: sentries standing tall to scan for danger, neighbors greeting one another, pups playing, and constant digging and maintenance of the burrows. It is a busy, cooperative community, and an hour spent watching reveals its rhythms.

Prairie dogs are far more than a roadside amusement. As a keystone species, their digging aerates and mixes the soil, their grazing shapes the grassland, and their burrows and bodies support a host of other animals, from burrowing owls and snakes that use the tunnels to hawks, eagles, badgers, and the endangered black-footed ferret that prey on them.

Because so much of the plains ecosystem depends on prairie dogs, a healthy colony like this one is a sign of a functioning grassland. The town below Devils Tower offers a window into that web of life, where a single small rodent underpins the whole community around it.

The colony's setting is part of its magic. From the flats where the prairie dogs pop and bark, the great fluted column of Devils Tower rises beyond, so a single stop offers both charming wildlife and one of the most striking geological landmarks in the country.

The prairie dog town is right along the park road near the entrance, making it an easy pause on the way to the tower's base trails. For many families, the barking little sentries are as memorable as the tower itself, especially for children seeing a wild colony up close for the first time.

The prairie dogs are wild and protected within the monument, and though they may seem tame, they can carry disease and fleas, so visitors must never feed, approach, or touch them. Watching quietly from the road or path is the right way to enjoy the colony without harming it.

The town is most active in the warmer months, when the animals are out feeding, socializing, and raising young, and mornings and evenings are especially lively. In winter the prairie dogs spend more time below ground, so a warm-season visit offers the best show below the tower.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.