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Biggest Threat Towards Black Footed Ferrets

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Biggest Threat Towards Black Footed Ferrets

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habitat loss and disease

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loss of prairie dogs through cattle ranching and other human encroachments.

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Abiotic, Dominant Plants, Wild Life, Landscape.

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Abiotic, Dominant Plants, Wild Life, Landscape.

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Abiotic; Climate, Parent Material and Soil.
Dominant Plants: Purple Needlegrass, Wild Oats, Foxtail, Ryegrass and Buffalo grass.
Wild Life: Gazelles, Zebras, Wild horse, Lions, Skunks
Landscape: grasses as the dominant vegetation. Trees and large shrubs are absent.

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Temperate Grasslands

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Endangered

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Fur: White, Brown, Black
Shape: Noodle
Size: 18-24 Inches long
Life Span: 1-3 Years

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Description

The black-footed ferret is a member of the mustelidae or weasel family. It has a long body and yellowish-brown fur with a blackish wash of fur 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. The European polecat and the steppe or Siberian polecat are its closest living relatives in the wild.

Range

The black-footed ferret was once found throughout the eastern and southern Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains. It is currently found in Montana, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico, and 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 prairie dogs. It slithers down prairie dog tunnels and 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 in a burrow in the ground 41 days after mating. The female nurses and cares for the young. The young are born blind and helpless and are covered with a fine white fur. They develop 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 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 impacted black-footed ferret populations.

The black-footed ferret was first identified in 1851. As prairie dog populations decreased in the 20th century, black-footed ferret populations also decreased. 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 ferrets descended from that original group have been released in the wild in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming in an effort to reestablish the population in the wild.

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black-footed ferret - mustela nigripes | wildlife journal junior

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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 of fur 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.

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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genus: Mustela

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https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/animals-we-protect/black-footed-ferret/#:~:text=Black%2Dfooted%20ferrets%20remain%20critically,a%20species%20that%20nearly%20vanished.
https://nhpbs.org/wild/blackfootedferret.asp
https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/black-footed-ferret
http://bcgrasslands.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/gcc_e-book_grassland-ecosystems.pdf

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Black-footed ferrets are a member of the weasel family and about the same size as minks. Adults are 18 to 24 inches long and weigh less than three pounds. Their coats are yellow-beige with distinctive black markings on their face, feet, legs, and tail that help them blend in with their habitat.

They are known to be quite playful and vocal! They bark, chatter, and even chuckle, and the "ferret dance" is hopping about with their mouths wide open, apparently having all sorts of fun.

Why Black-Footed Ferrets Are Engangered

There may have been as many as 5 million black-footed ferrets in the United States in the early 1900s. But by the 1970s they were feared to be extinct as a result of habitat fragmentation and widespread prairie dog declines due to:

1. Being deliberately exterminated (they are often considered an agricultural pest)

2. Habitat conversion to cropland or other types of development

3. Sylvatic plague (which the ferrets are also susceptible to)

Prairie dogs are 90% of the black-footed ferret diet. In fact, one ferret can eat over 100 prairie dogs in a year! Their near-eradication almost wiped out the ferrets.

Then, in 1981, a rancher's dog in Wyoming brought home a ferret it had killed. This led to the discovery of a small number of black-footed ferrets nearby.

From only seven breeding black-footed ferrets, conservationists re-established their numbers in captivity. The first reintroduction happened in 1991 with 49 ferrets released back into the wild in Shirley Basin, Wyoming. The next year saw two wild-born litters.

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Black-footed ferrets are a member of the weasel family and about the same size as minks. Adults are 18 to 24 inches long and weigh less than three pounds. Their coats are yellow-beige with distinctive black markings on their face, feet, legs, and tail that help them blend in with their habitat.

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approximated 300

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IOXtYmtRG8

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Black Footed Ferrets | National Geographic

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Black-Footed Ferret

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Their numbers were greatly decreased by a plague that ran through the prairie dog population
Expansion of farmland destroys many of the prairie dog burrows where these ferrets live.