The black-footed ferret is a member of the weasel family (mustelids). It has a long neck and black markings on its face, the tip of its tail and on its feet. It is very quick and agile and is most active at night (nocturnal).
Ferrets grow up to 2 feet in length (including a 6 inch tail) and weigh approximately 2 to 3 pounds.
Approximately a thousand black-footed ferrets live in captivity at breeding facilities, while another 80 exist in the wild following release by the federal government.
Black-footed ferrets have been known to live up to 12 years in captivity.
The black-footed ferret was once found throughout the eastern and southern Rockies and the Great Plains.
Prairie dog towns of the plains and plateaus are also home to the black-footed ferret, who utilize their burrows for shelter and travel.
Prairie dogs make up the main staple of the ferret's diet although they occasionally eat mice and other small animals.
In the wild, black-footed ferrets spend 99 percent of their time underground. During the night they hunt for sleeping prairie dogs in their burrows. Sometimes prairie dogs attack as a group and drag a ferret underground.
After a six-week gestation period, 1 to 6 young are born in June. The young appear above ground in July and grow as large as their parents by September.
Until 1981, the ferret was thought to be extinct. During that year a small population was discovered in Meeteetse, Wyoming. Today, captive-bred ferrets have been reintroduced to the Shirley Basin in Wyoming; UL Bend National Wildlife Refuge in Montana; the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana; the Badlands National Park in South Dakota; Buffalo Gap National Grasslands in South Dakota and Aubrey Valley in Arizona.
Both habitat loss and the continued decline of their prey base, the prairie dog, continue to threaten the black-footed ferret.