Black-Footed Ferret
These small, weasel-like animals have a black mask and feet and are considered the most endangered mammal in North America.
About This Species
Widely considered the most endangered mammal in North America, the black-footed ferret is making a comeback in Colorado and other parts of the West after being rescued from the brink of extinction in the mid-1980s. Black-footed ferrets are considered an endangered species by both the US Fish & Wildlife Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
They are the only ferret species native to North America. Their story is a roller coaster ride, and the fact that Colorado is now home to six reintroduction sites is an amazing success.
Ferrets are a mid-level predator, preying mostly on prairie dogs and providing food for raptors and other night hunters.
With their elongated bodies, wide-spaced eyes, and long claws perfect for excavating dirt, black-footed ferrets closely resemble weasels. Unlike their weasel relatives, however, their fur does not change color in winter. Black-footed ferrets belong to the mustelid family, which means they produce a strong, musky body odor. They chatter and hiss when they feel threatened by predators, including owls and coyotes.
Conservation
Threatened and Endangered
Black-footed ferrets are the most endangered mammal in the United States. After a very small population was discovered in Wyoming, Colorado and other states worked together to save the nearly extinct animal.
Innovation in Conservation
Returning from Extinction
Black-footed ferrets were thought to be extinct twice. Before our recent reintroduction efforts, they had been absent from Colorado since the early 1940s. A small population was found in Wyoming in 1981 resulting in eight breeding ferrets. Prior to early 2020s, all living black-footed ferrets were descended from these animals. In a partnership with genetic research firms, the US Fish and Wildlife Service utilized genetic samples taken from the black-footed ferret in 1988 to create three clones. This sample has three times the genetic diversity of the current population. If breeding from these clones is successful, it will greatly increase the genetic diversity of black-footed ferrets and be a valuable tool in ensuring their continued recovery.
1973
The black-footed ferret is one of the first species listed under the newly created Endangered Species Act
1981
A small population of ferrets are discovered by a sheepdog named Shep on a ranch in Meeteetse, Wyoming
2001
Colorado begins reintroduction of captive-bred black-footed ferrets near Rangely
2013
CPW begins the Eastern Plains reintroduction program
8
The number of wild black-footed ferrets that all ferrets were descended from prior to the cloning program
500+
Number of ferrets released in Colorado reintroduction efforts
- Vaccines for Conservation: Plague, Prairie Dogs & Black-Footed Ferrets as a Case Study
- Rarely Observed Behaviors and Occurrences of Black-footed Ferrets Preconditioning for Wild Release 2014–2017
- A Black-Footed Ferret and U.S. Law: Lessons Learned from the First Successful Clone of a Native U.S. Endangered Species
- The effect of captivity on the oral health of the critically endangered black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes)
- Black-footed ferret reintroduction summary for Colorado Legislators as per HB00-1314 (2011)
- Markers of fertility in reproductive microbiomes of male and female endangered black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes
- The Cranial Morphology of the Black-Footed Ferret: A Comparison of Wild and Captive Specimens
- Efficacy of Scent Dogs in Detecting Black-Footed Ferrets at a Reintroduction Site in South Dakota
- Effects of Experience and Cage Enrichment on Predatory Skills of Black-Footed Ferrets (Mustela nigripes)
- Gut bacterial composition shows sex-specific shifts during breeding season in ex situ managed black-footed ferrets
- Semen proteome and transcriptome of the endangered black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) show association with the environment and fertility outcome
- Chromosome-length genome assembly and karyotype of the endangered black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes)
- Prey selection by black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes): implications for intersexual resource partitioning and conservation
- Designing an assay to evaluate behavioral responses to opposite-sex conspecifics in the endangered black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes)
- Black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), a conservation model for the mustelids family : interest in the european mink (Mustela lutreola) reintroduction project
- Juvenile ocular abnormalities in a litter of black‐footed ferrets
- Using hair cortisol analysis to understand the biological factors that affect black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) stress physiology
More Information:
Physical Characteristics
Black-footed ferrets measure between 18-22 inches and are yellowish-brown in color, with a blackish wash on their feet and a characteristic dark mask around their eyes.
Range
Black-footed ferrets are part of an intensive reintroduction process across the western United States.
In 2001, Colorado Parks and Wildlife joined forces with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore black-footed ferrets to the remote scrubland in Rio Blanco and Moffat counties in northwest Colorado. A total of 260 ferrets were released between 2001 and 2008 when a plague epizootic was detected in the white-tailed prairie dog population.
In 2013, CPW, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service and other partners began working with interested private and public landowners on the Eastern Plains of Colorado to return black-footed ferrets to black-tailed prairie dog complexes. As of fall 2019, releases have occurred in Baca, Prowers, Pueblo, Larimer and Denver counties.
Prior to reintroduction, the last official record of a black-footed ferret in Colorado was near Buena Vista in 1943.
Habitat
Prior to reintroduction, habitat ranged statewide, including the eastern plains, the mountain parks and the western valleys – grasslands or shrublands that supported species of prairie dog, the ferret’s primary prey. Ferrets often take over the abandoned burrows of prairie dogs.
Diet
The primary prey of black-footed ferrets are prairie dogs.
Reproduction
Little is known about the natural history of this rare mammal. Females do not exhibit the delayed implantation of embryos typical of the weasel family. Instead they mate in early spring and give birth to a litter of three or four mouse-sized pups after a seven-week gestation period.
Threats to Species
Experts say the widespread practice of poisoning prairie dogs during colonial-era expansion across the West and the introduction of sylvatic plague to North America were the major factors in the ferret’s demise.