Black-footed ferret
A masked, prairie-dog-hunting weasel declared extinct in 1979, brought back from a single Wyoming colony and now living wild again at Badlands and Wind Cave.
Black-footed ferret at a glance
Mustela nigripes FEHR-it; Mustela nigripes is muh-STEE-luh NY-grih-peez
- Type
- Mammal · weasels
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Size
- About 19 to 24 inches long and 1.4 to 2.5 pounds — about as long as a yardstick, and light enough that a gallon of milk outweighs it.
- Lifespan
- Wild females can live up to about 5 years; wild males up to about 4.
- Conservation
- Endangered
Eats prairie dogs, mice, other small mammals
A ferret hunts inside prairie dog burrows at night, and prairie dogs make up around 90% of what it eats.
Should you worry?
You're extremely unlikely to run into one by surprise — they hunt at night, underground, and there are very few left. If a ranger program points one out, keep your distance and let it work.
In 1981, a ranch dog near Meeteetse, Wyoming, dropped a dead animal at its owner’s feet that biologists had just finished writing off. The black-footed ferret had been declared extinct two years earlier. The dog, a farm mutt named Shep, had found one anyway, and led wildlife biologists to a small surviving colony still hunting the prairie dog towns nearby.
That colony became the entire future of the species. Every black-footed ferret alive today, wherever it lives, is descended from the handful of animals biologists caught and bred in captivity after Shep’s discovery. Their offspring have gone back out onto protected prairie ever since — Wind Cave released 49 of them in 2007, into prairie dog towns that can now support 40 to 60 ferrets depending on how the prairie dogs themselves are doing that year. A ferret’s whole life happens inside those burrows: it hunts at night, underground, and prairie dogs make up about 90% of what it eats.
The species is still endangered, still entirely dependent on prairie dog towns staying healthy enough to feed it. But if a ranger’s night program at Wind Cave catches a masked face looking back from a burrow entrance, that animal, hunting through the dark for its next prairie dog, is doing the same thing the Meeteetse survivors were doing the night a dog found one by accident.
Did you know?
- Every black-footed ferret alive today descends from the small colony found near Meeteetse, Wyoming, in 1981 — found after the species had already been declared extinct in 1979.
- Wind Cave released 49 ferrets in 2007, and the park's prairie dog towns can support 40 to 60 ferrets depending on how the prairie dog population is doing that year.
- Prairie dogs make up about 90% of a ferret's diet, so a ferret spends nearly its whole life hunting inside prairie dog burrows.
Common questions
Are black-footed ferrets extinct?
Not anymore, but it was close. They were declared extinct in 1979, then a small colony was found in Wyoming in 1981, and every ferret alive today comes from that population.
What do black-footed ferrets eat?
Mostly prairie dogs, about 90% of their diet, hunted at night inside the prairie dogs' own burrows.
How were black-footed ferrets saved?
Biologists captured the last wild ferrets found near Meeteetse, Wyoming, bred their descendants in captivity, and released them back onto protected prairie, including 49 released at Wind Cave in 2007.
Are black-footed ferrets dangerous?
No. They're small, nocturnal, and hunt underground, so you're very unlikely to encounter one at all, let alone be threatened by it.
Where can you see a black-footed ferret?
Badlands and Wind Cave both monitor reintroduced populations. A ranger-led night program over a prairie dog town is the realistic way to spot one.