Black footed ferret 1

Black-Footed Ferrets

By Black-Footed Ferret

  • Ferrets evolved in Europe from weasel-like ancestors

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    black-footed ferret

  • Native American tribes, including the Crow, Blackfoot, Sioux, Cheyenne, and Pawnee, used black-footed ferrets for religious rites and for food.

  • Throughout their history, black-footed ferrets have been elusive.

    They were occasionally listed in fur company records in the early to mid-1800s. John James Audubon and the Reverend John Bachmann were the first to officially describe black-footed ferrets in 1851 from a single specimen found near the Platte River. They were so elusive to humans that shortly after Audubon’s description, controversy brewed over their true existence.

  • By the late 1950’s, black-footed ferrets were thought by many to be extinct.

    European settlement across the North American prairie dramatically altered the landscape through plowing and prairie dog eradication efforts. As their habitat and primary food source diminished, so did the black-footed ferret.

  • They have been classified as an endangered species in the United States since 1967.

    There are only three ferret species on Earth; the European polecat, the Siberian polecat, and the black-footed ferret. The black-footed ferret is the only ferret species native to North America.

  • Many people try to keep the endangered animals alive.

    While earlier attempts to breed members of the Mellette County South Dakota population in captivity were successful in the 1970s, none of the resulting offspring survived

  • The black-footed ferret was rediscovered near Meeteetse, Wyoming giving hope to a species that was until then considered extinct.

    A dog brought a black-footed ferret to his owners and then everyone found out that black-footed ferrets were not exticted

  • Since 1986, over 7,100 kits have been produced at the captive breeding facilities

  • Today there are 6 facilities that make up the managed Black-footed ferret.

    These include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center (Colorado), National Zoo’s Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (VA), Louisville Zoological Garden (KY), Toronto Zoo (Ontario, Canada), Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (CO) and Phoenix Zoo (AZ).until the late 1990s.

  • As of 2007, the total wild population of black-footed ferrets was well over 650 individuals (plus 250 in captivity) in the US.

  • 34 animals were relesed into the grasslands.

    A population of 34 animals was released into Grasslands National Park in southern Saskatchewan on October 2, 2009, and a litter of newborn kits was observed in July 2010.

  • The graph depicts the number of BFF kits born at all captive breeding facilities from the beginning of the program through 2010