Shallow, well-drained, silty clay loam, sandy clay loam, or loam soils with a slope <15% are ideal for prairie dog burrow construction and, therefore, also ideal for ferrets. If prairie dog colonies are too small or the distance between colonies is too large, black-footed ferrets cannot sustain their populations. Prairie dogs comprise approximately 90% of the black-footed ferret’s diet, with alternate prey being ground squirrels, rabbits, and deer mice. Black-footed ferret depend exclusively on prairie dog colonies for food, shelter, and raising young. Historically, black-footed ferrets were found in shortgrass prairie, mixed-grass prairie, desert shrubland, shrub-steppe, sagebrush steppe, mountain grassland, and semi-arid grassland. Five hundred black-footed ferrets are now estimated to be alive in the wild, after reaching around 1,000 individuals at the end of the 2000s. In 1987, the last 18 wild ferrets were captured to establish a captive breeding program. They were once considered extinct in the wild until a small isolated population was discovered in Wyoming in 1981.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/close-up-of-ferrets-739275339-b4ba82c340574e14b8bf55530d6d085c.jpg "are ferrets nocturnal")
The black-footed ferret is the only ferret native to the Americas. They have an unmistakable emerald green eyeshine.
#Are ferrets nocturnal how to#
When kits are about two months old, mothers move their litter from burrow to burrow and begin teaching their kits how to hunt prairie dogs.įerrets are nocturnal and may be seen while spotlighting if a ferret is traveling above ground between prairie dog burrows. Mating season is March and April, with litters typically producing 3 to 5 kits born in May and June. Observation Tipsīlack-footed ferrets are solitary and spend most of their time underground in prairie dogs burrows, searching for food, raising their young, sleeping, and sheltering from predators. A captive breeding program has enabled reintroduction efforts across the western United States, southern Canada, and northern Mexico. Today they are considered Extinct in Canada and Endangered in the United States. The rest of their fur is a buff-beige color, which lightens to a nearly white color around their forehead, muzzle, and throat.īlack-footed ferrets once lived throughout the Great Plains wherever prairie dog colonies (black-tailed, white-tailed, and Gunnison’s prairie dogs) were found. They have black feet, a black-tipped tail, and a black face mask. Adult ferrets are similar in size to mink and weigh between 1.4-2.5 lbs/0.6-1.1 kg.
The black-footed ferret is a medium-sized mustelid, a member of the weasel family.
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