Fading to White: The Black Footed Ferret
Hayden Heacox
Hayden Heacox
U.S. Fish & WildLife Services |
This little one is known as a Mustela nigripes, otherwise called the "Black Footed Ferret". Unfortunately, through the destruction of habitat and prey, the number of these little critters has dropped so low that they are considered to be one of the most endangered mammal species in the entire world.
At a size of just 19 to 24 inches long, and 1.4 to 2.5 pounds(1), their lives seem so minuscule to us- but, as people, our lives play a large role in their survival. Other characteristics are the black paws, tail tip, and "mask" across the face, and body color "yellowish buff" (1).
Black-footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team |
In the image above, the area highlighted in green is the "historic range" of the Black Footed Ferret.
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National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center. |
heavily on the life of its food source- the prairie dog. Typically, the three types of prairie dogs are the black-tailed prairie dog (C. ludovicianus), Gunnison’s prairie dog (C. gunnisoni), and the white-tailed prairie dog (C. leucurus)(1).
Through the expansion of agriculture into
the Great Plains and the like, the habitat has been reduced and altered, along with the systematic poisoning of prairie dogs affecting their main food and shelter source, and exotic
disease; reducing population.
The map above shows the spread of prairie dog populations, which matches that of the historic range of the Black Footed Ferret.
Over time, approximately 112 million acres of their historic
range has been converted into agricultural land and 3.3 million lost to
urbanization.(1) The effect of this land alteration has caused the fragmentation and loss of prairie dog and
ferret habitat. Vast spends of agricultural land now separate "dog-towns" and the range of Black Footed Ferret territory is down to less than 2% of its historic value. Naturally, the location(s) of ferret population(s) is directly related to that of
the prairie dog, which is their primary source of food and shelter- they take the
burrows from prairie dogs as their own domain.
Since the early 1900's, prairie dogs have met the fate of poisoning by farmers in their homeland. By cutting down the population of this vital food source of the Black Footed Ferret, in order to reduce competition for food/foraging between prairie dogs and live-stock (1), the ferrets numbers began to reduce as the food supply fell.
Recovery Plan
The Black Footed Ferret has been listed as an endengered species since 1967, prior to the "Endangered Species Act" of 1973, where it was later added (1).
Black Footed Ferret.org |
Number of BFF kits born at all captive breeding facilities from the beginning of the program through 2010. Taken from BlackFootedFerret.org |
Reintroduction sites for the Black Footed Ferret taken from BlackFootedFerret.org |
If you would like to find further information on this issue, please visit and take advantage of these websites devoted to the survival of the Black Footed Ferret:
INFO:
http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/blackfootedferret/
PLANS:
1) http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/blackfootedferret/BFF%20FO%20Fnl%20SHA%20102313.pdf
FACT SHEETS:
1) http://blackfootedferret.org/recovery-efforts/captive-breeding
2) http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/factsheets/Black-Footed-Ferret.pdf
FULL INFO AND RECOVERY PLANS:
1)http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/20131108%20BFF%202nd%20Rev.%20Final%20Recovery%20Plan.pdf
CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO HELP!
(1) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services
(2) Black Footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team
(2) Black Footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team