Black-footed+Ferret+2010



By: Ryan D

Black-footed Ferrets are about 18 inches long, and weigh approxamently 2 pounds. They have very short legs, and stay close to the ground. They have white fur that darkens to the ends of their body. There black fur starts at their hips. They also have a very distinct black mask. The Black-footed Ferrets diet mainly consists of prarie dogs. They are nocturnal hunters that requires a plentiful amount of prarie dogs. Occasionally they will eat other small mammals, birds, and insects. The average Black-footed Ferret eats about 100 prarie dogs every year. They will not survive without typically large prarie dog colonies. The loss of praries, kill the prarie dogs, which lowers the Black-footed Ferret population. The Black-footed Ferrets are endangered, because reasons like loss of praries. Or loss of prarie dogs, because the Black-footed Ferret depends on prarie dog burrows during the day. State and US federal agencies cooperation with private land owners, conservation groups, North American zoos, and Native Americans, have been actively reintroducing Ferrets back into the wild since 1991. We should stop plowing over praries in order to save these endangered animals.