Characteristics
 The black-footed ferret is a member of the mustelidae of weasel family. It has a long body and yellowish-brown fur with a
blackish wash on its back. It is about two feet in length and weighs
2 to 3 pounds.
It has a black-tipped tail and black feet with long claws. It has a black mask around its eyes; large rounded ears on the side of its triangular head; a white muzzle, forehead and throat and a black nose. Males are larger than females. The black-footed ferret is the only ferret native to North America.
Range
 The black-footed ferret was once found
throughout the eastern and southern Rockies and the Great Plains. It is currently found
in
Arizona, Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming as well as Chihuahua, Mexico.
Habitat
The black-footed Ferret is found in
short or middle grass prairies. It often makes its homes in abandoned prairie dog burrows.
Diet
 The black-footed ferret eats mostly prairie dogs. It slithers down prairie dog tunnels to catch its prey. It kills the prairie dog with a quick bite to the back of the neck. If it can't find prairie dogs, it eats other small mammals like mice gophers and ground squirrels. It may also eat birds, eggs and small reptiles.
|
|
|
Life Cycle
 The black-footed ferret mates in March and April. The female has a litter of 3-5 young 41 days after mating in a burrow in the ground.
The female nurses and cares for the young. The young are born blind and helpless. They are covered with a fine white fur. They develop their markings when they are about three weeks old and open their eyes when they are about a month old. The young come above ground when they are about 42 days old. The young stay with their mother until the fall.
Behavior
 Except for during the breeding season, the black-footed ferret is a solitary animal. It is mostly nocturnal and spends most of the its time underground. The black-footed ferret is very vocal and hisses, chatters and whimpers. It is also very playful and and young black-footed ferrets often wrestle with each other!
The black-footed Ferret is on the U.S. Endangered Species List. It is the most endangered mammal in North America. The destruction of prairie dog towns and loss of habitat has severely impacted the black-footed ferret population. Predation and disease have also impact black-footed ferret populations.
 Biologists thought the black-footed ferret was extinct in 1976 when the last known colony in South Dakota disappeared. In 1981 a group of about 100 black-footed ferrets was found near Meeteetse, Wyoming. All but 18 of those black-footed ferrets died of distemper. The remaining ferrets were captured and bred in captivity and since 1991 they have been released in the wild in
Arizona, Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.
Image Credits: Clipart.com unless otherwise noted
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)