A black-tailed prairie dog town in Texas was reported to cover 25,000 sq mi (64,000 km2) and included 400,000,000 individuals.

Torpor is categorized by a drop in metabolism, heart rate and respiration similar to hibernation, but is involuntary and shorter in duration.

On average, black-tailed prairie dogs will lose twenty percent of their body weight during the fall and winter seasons when they go through bouts of torpor.

Between different colonies the overall time spent in torpor varies, independent of prairie dog body mass.

[22] Their foraging and burrowing activities influence environmental heterogeneity, hydrology, nutrient cycling, biodiversity, landscape architecture, and plant succession in grassland habitats.

New colonies are rarely created on rangeland in "good" to "excellent" condition; however, continuously, long-term, heavily grazed land reduces habitat quality due to soil erosion.

In northern latitudes, colonies commonly occur on south aspects due to the dominance of grasses over shrubs and increased solar radiation during winter.

[11] The home range and territorial boundaries of black-tailed prairie dogs are determined by the area occupied by an individual coterie.

[11] Population density and growth are influenced by habitat quality [10] and are restricted by topographic barriers, soil structure, tall vegetation, and social conditions.

[11] Burrows created by black-tailed prairie dogs serve as refuges from the external environment and are one of the most important features of their colonies.

[10] Black-tailed prairie dog nests are located underground in burrows and are composed of fine, dried grass.

[7][10][11] Dome mounds consist of loosely packed subterranean soil spread widely around the entrance of the burrow, and tend to be vegetated by prostrate forbs.

Black-tailed prairie dogs compact the soil of these mounds with their noses, creating poor sites for seedling establishment.

[11] Vegetation heights between 3 and 5 in (8 and 13 cm) and a slope of 2° to 5° are optimal for detecting predators and facilitating communication among black-tailed prairie dogs.

[10][11][21][25] Black-tailed prairie dogs were rarely seen feeding more than 16 ft (5 m) from colony edges in Wind Cave National Park.

Scarlet globemallow (Sphaeralcea coccinea) [10][16][25][31] and Russian thistle (Salsola kali) [32] are preferred during late summer and fall, but are sought out during every season.

[35] Constantine Slobodchikoff and others assert that prairie dogs use a sophisticated system of vocal communication to describe specific predators.

According to Slobodchikoff, these calls, with their individuality in response to a specific predator, imply prairie dogs have highly developed cognitive abilities.

[10][11] In Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota, 40% (213 individuals) of yearling females copulated and 9% successfully weaned a litter.

[10] Lifespan of the black-tailed prairie dog in the wild is unknown, but males more than 3 years old experience high mortality.

Major mortality factors include predation, disease, infanticide, habitat loss, poisoning, trapping, and shooting.

[11] Sylvatic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, can quickly eliminate entire black-tailed prairie dog colonies.

[42] The most common predators of black-tailed prairie dogs are coyotes (Canis latrans),[7][10][18][43] American badgers (Taxidea taxus),[7][11][18][43] bobcats (Lynx rufus),[7][10][43] golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos),[7][10][11][43] ferruginous hawks (Buteo regalis),[7][43] red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis),[10] and prairie rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis).

[5] Black-tailed prairie dogs enhance the diversity of vegetation, vertebrates, and invertebrates through their foraging and burrowing activities and by their presence as prey items.

Rare and declining species, such as the black-footed ferret,[8][43][46] swift fox (Vulpes velox), mountain plover (Charadrius montanus),[22] and burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia)[7] are associated with colonies.

[7][10][11][16][20][23][25][45][46] Animals that depend on herbaceous cover in sagebrush habitat, such as mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and sage grouse (Centrocercus spp.

[49] While black-tailed prairie dogs are often regarded as competitors with livestock for available forage, evidence of impacts on rangelands are mixed.

Species richness and diversity indices did not differ among colonized and uncolonized sites in either year, nor did the amount of bare ground.

[24] Cattle neither significantly preferred nor avoided black-tailed prairie dog colonies in a study in the shortgrass steppe of northeastern Colorado.

[14] Competitive interactions between black-tailed prairie dogs and domestic livestock for preferred forage species are unclear.