By ELLIE O’BANION
Sheridan High School Student
This column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School dual-credit program students and Human Services teacher Abby Williams.
The Black-Footed Ferret originally lived in the western plains. They were deemed to be endangered but soon became what people thought to be extinct, later being rediscovered in Wyoming in 1981.
Since then, many precautions have been taken to continue their population growth, including captive breeding, cloning, habitat protection, and reintroducing. These precautions have helped grow their population numbers to over 370 in the wild. However, scientists estimate there need to be around 3,000 in the wild to have a good chance of surviving. Their biggest threats are sickness and disease.
The Black-Footed Ferret is a small creature that weighs around 1.5 to 2.5 pounds and can grow to about 18 to 24 inches in length. With a lifespan of three to four years in the wild and about four years in captivity, most Black-Footed Ferrets won’t live longer than four years.
The Black-Footed Ferret fur was designed to blend in with their surroundings to be able to camouflage and stay hidden from predators. Their coat color and markings blend in with the grassland plants and soils. They have a black face mask that provides cover around their eyes and facial areas, and they also have black on their feet and the tip of their tail. But their muzzle, top of their head, and a bit of their throat is white. Their body is thin and long, with their coat being a yellow-buff color. The stomach area is a little lighter than the rest of their body. These creatures have big front paws and claws for digging.
The Black-Footed Ferret normally lives wherever prairie dogs are, which is a reason why scientists reintroduced them into the world next to them.
These animals are very vocal creatures: they make four different types of noises, including a chatter which is used as an alarm that signals to others. To show fear or annoyance, a small hiss is produced, the female Black-Footed Ferret will whimper to get the attention of the young, and lastly males will make a noise called a “chortle” when mating.
Although they are small in size, their appetite is the opposite. They will eat a prairie dog every three to four days. Their diet consists of 90 percent prairie dogs and the other 10 percent is other small animals, including mice, rats, ground squirrels, rabbits, birds, and sometimes insects and reptiles.
Black-Footed Ferrets are mostly nocturnal animals; they come up for only a couple minutes a day. When they do come up to the surface, it is during sunrise to hunt for food or find new mates or burrows. They mostly live in old prairie dog burrows, and in the burrows, they use them to sleep, catch prey, hide from predators and weather conditions, and to take care of their young. Contrary to belief, they do not hibernate. They do sleep a lot, but not enough to be classified as hibernating animals. They do come above the ground often to find a new burrow to stay in, but in the winter they do it less often to try to avoid the harsh weather conditions.
Scientists continue to try and double the numbers of these animals, hoping that someday they won’t need our help to survive. Scientists are still trying to figure out how to keep them away from the illness that targets the species. Until then, they will stay in captive breeding to try and increase their numbers and make their lives better for when they are introduced back into the world.