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BLACK FOOTED FERRET
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Mustela nigripes
HOUSE NAME: Male "Captain Barnacles"
HABITAT: Historically was prevalent in North American
prairies from Southern Saskatchewan to Northern Mexico and east from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains including much of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. Now only present in the wild in select reintroduction sites.
Live exclusively in prairie dog burrows of the short grass prairie.
CONSERVATION STATUS: Endangered
FUN FACT: Black footed ferrets were listed as endangered in 1967 and feared extinct by the mid 1970s. In 1981, a colony was discovered near Meeteetse, WY. Unfortunately, an outbreak of sylvatic plague and canine distemper began to decimate the colony. The last 18 ferrets known to exist were captured and placed in an intensive captive breeding program.
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