Black Footed Ferret

Species: Black Footed Ferret
Status: endagered
Distribution: Wyoming/ Northern parts of North America

The Black Footed Ferret (Bff) is a mammal who is a nocturnal carnavour and generally feasts on ground squirrels, mice,  insects, birds, and Prairie dogs. This animal has stout legs and is never more than 2 feet on length from nose to the tip of the tail. Also their facial features resemble that of a n adorable racoon. They live in grasslands, especially the Northern Great Plains. The reason for this favoritism is because the grass is crisp and short, but also of vast variety of grasses.   This species was believed to be extinct not to long ago. However, in 1987,  the BFF were taken into captivity for breeding.  They were then reintroduced into the wild with a very successful outcome. There is now an estimated 300 BFF living in the wild.  Black Footed Ferrets live in the Northern most part of North America and are the fruition of relocation programs. The main causes of the declination of the BFF are as follows: the BFF rely on Prairie dogs as a food source,  but also because the BFF use the tunnels dug by the prairies to make their homes.  In recent years,  farmers have deemed prairie dogs  to be pests, and as such they have started a campaign to rid their land of the Prairie dogs. They use pesticides by means in which to kill the Prairie dogs, thus killing the BFF. Also, domestic dogs and coyotes have brought additional diseases into their population.  I haven't found a link to climate change and the endangerment of BFF, however vulnerability is a key issue.  For instance,  the BFF have had to congregate into smaller habitats. Because of this,  isolation has occurred. Within this isolation,  reproduction has decreased,  and worse,  inbreeding has increased the vulnerability of the species. Once inbred, diseases run rampant through the population because of lowered immune systems. Other simular animals such as coyotes have introduced disease into their population. The bright side of this situation is that the Wyoming department of fish and Game is currently at the forefront of research for this species,  a part of that includes reintroduction into the wild. This is the perfect example of one species depending on another. Native American environmentalists, state and Federal organizations have given funding and research money to this cause. I picked this species because they are adorable, and my day-care provider as a child had Ferrets. 💚

I got my info from the WWF website for endagered species and from Bagheera, a site dedicated to giving out information about species who are threatened.