Black Footed Ferrets

Black-footed ferrets, or Mustela nigripes, are the only native ferret species in North America. They are one of the most endangered mammals on the continent. The ferrets are very playful, often wrestling and doing the ‘ferret dance’, where they hop backwards with their mouth open. They are slender small ferrets with a black mask, black feet, and a black-tipped tail. The rest of their body is a yellowish-white color. They have short legs, large front paws, and claws that are good at digging. They have large ears and eyes, but their best sense is smell. They are around 8 to 24 inches. Black-footed ferrets are very loud, using a loud chatter as an alarm call and a hiss to show alarm. One ferret may eat over 100 prairie dogs in a year. When they’re not eating prairie dogs, they eat mice, rats, rabbits, birds, and sometimes reptiles and insects. Ferrets have to eat a lot to move as they do, so one ferret eats about 1 prairie dog per 3 or 4 days. Black-footed ferrets are solitary animals. Ferrets live around 3-4 years. Black-footed ferrets hunt for prairie dogs by slipping into their burrows.

Black-footed ferrets were once thought extinct. Then, in 1981, an isolated population of black-footed ferrets was found. Eighteen of the ferrets were caught to establish a breeding colony, which means all black-footed ferrets are descended from them. Now there are about 370 left. Some reasons why black-footed ferrets are endangered are habitat loss and non-native diseases. Black-footed ferrets are very dependent on prairie dogs, so without space for prairie dogs and healthy prairie dogs, black-footed ferrets are in trouble. They once lived across the western plains, but now they’re reintroduced into Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, and Arizona. In the 20th century, many farmers and ranchers, with government assistance, exterminated many prairie dogs because they would destroy their fields. The prairie dog towns would become ghost towns, significantly hurting the black-footed ferret populations to the point where people thought they were extinct. They have made a remarkable recovery, but they are still in danger.