A prairie dog town is a busy place. As author and field researcher Theodore Manno explains, a prairie dog's life can be full of mischief, romantic trysts, antipredator behavior, fighting, kissing, and infanticide that can all be witnessed over the course of a few months. In this definitive book on Utah prairie dogs, he vividly recounts the daily ups and downs of prairie dog life as well as his own trials and triumphs while observing these rare rodents in Bryce Canyon National Park. As part of John Hoogland's long-term study, Manno and other members of the "Dog Squad" recorded the behavior of the "town" residents from the vantage point of a nine-foot-tall tower. Over time, the researchers came to know the personalities and social structure of the town's inhabitants. Demonstrating an unbridled passion for research, Manno communicates the satisfaction, excitement, and sadness that comes with watching marked individuals over time. His narrative, accompanied by more than 150 photos by wildlife photographer Elaine Miller Bond, provides a full overview of what is currently known about Utah prairie dogs, a species that is threatened with extinction.

In "The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog," John L. Hoogland draws on sixteen years of research at Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota, in the United States to provide this account of prairie dog social behavior. Through comparisons with more than 300 other animal species, he offers new insights into basic theory in behavioral ecology and sociobiology.
Hoogland documents interactions within and among families of prairie dogs to examine the advantages and disadvantages of coloniality. By addressing such topics as male and female reproductive success, inbreeding, kin recognition, and infanticide, Hoogland offers a broad view of conflict and cooperation. Among his surprising findings is that prairie dog females sometimes suckle, and at other times kill, the offspring of close kin.
Enhanced by more than 100 photographs, this book illuminates the social organization of a burrowing mammal and raises fundamental questions about current theory. As the most detailed long-term study of any social rodent, "The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog" will interest not only mammalogists and other vertebrate biologists, but also students of behavioral and evolutionary ecology.