Black Footed Ferret Recovery

The Black-footed Ferret (BFF) (Mustela nigripes) is the only ferret native to the short grass prairie of North America. BFFs are members of the Mustelidae family which is often referred to as the weasel family. Other members of this family include the mink, badger, marten, fisher, polecat, wolverine and domestic ferret. The BFF spends its whole life in prairie dog colonies and 90% of the BFFs diet is prairie dog. They eat over 100 prairie dogs a year. Black-footed ferrets spend about 90% of their time underground in the prairie dog burrows, where they seek shelter from predators and weather, eat, sleep and raise their young. They are nocturnal, solitary and require large areas on the landscape.   It is an effort that is changing the face of saving species from extinction.