People are committed to using technology to save endangered animals, and although there are not many successful cases, they have not given up on this effort. Recently, there were reports that a black-footed ferret, a species that had disappeared in the United States for more than 30 years, was cloned and named Elizabeth Ann.
The birth of Elizabeth is memorable, which gives us hope of restoring the genetic diversity of these mammals. But there is a big question, cloned ferrets are used to being bred in captivity, how do they return to wildness? How to return to nature?
A black-footed ferret eats more than 100 groundhogs a year
The black-footed ferret, also known as the black-footed ferret, is a mammal that lives in North America and is the only ferret native to the region, which can be said to be the indigenous people of North America. They have a similar appearance to "crisp noodles", and their bodies are mainly divided horizontally by three major color blocks.
The upperparts fur is yellow, the bottom is grayish white, and the tips of the four feet and tail are dark black, which is the origin of its name. Usually their body length is between 31-41 cm, the shape is cute, agile, very pleasing, when it moves, you can't help but want to hug.
But don't be fooled by the appearance of black-footed ferrets, they are like owls, they like the night lone rangers who lie out of the night and do not like to act together. Its sense of territory is also very strong, and there are often battles between the same kind for territory.
This guy is also very lazy, he can lie down for a week in winter without foraging, and even the cave he wants to live in does not bother to dig, but directly uses the cave abandoned by the prairie dog. There are also some worse ones, they will directly drive away or kill the original owner, and then the dove will occupy the magpie's nest.
In addition, they are also unkind in hunting, and the main food of blackfoot ferrets is rats and ground squirrels, of which prairie dogs are the most suitable for their tastes. If a black-footed ferret had not killed a dog or mouse and occupied its burrow for its own use, then this life would be absolutely incomplete.
Groundhogs are also a major food source for them, and according to statistics, a black-footed ferret has to eat more than 100 groundhogs every year. At this point, some people wonder, since the black-footed ferret is so bad, how can it be on the verge of extinction?
The black-footed ferret was declared extinct in the 1970s!
Blackfoot ferrets were once widely distributed in North America, but from the beginning of the 20th century, the number began to decrease significantly, by 1937, the blackfoot ferret in the Canadian region was the first to become extinct, in 1967, it was found that the species had not been found in the United States for more than a decade, so experts announced: In the 1970s, the black-footed ferret died!
There are many reasons for the demise, but in summary, there are three main points. The first habitat is squeezed. In the early 20th century, American farms advocated large-scale and mechanized operations, which greatly reduced the living space of wild animals. The second food source is reduced. In order to reduce the damage of rodents to crops, many farms put a large amount of poisonous bait on the grassland, and the number of dogs, marmots and so on has decreased sharply.
Third exotic disease. In the case of a large reduction in the number of black-footed ferrets themselves, foreign diseases have led to outbreaks of black-footed ferrets, and a large number of black-footed ferrets have died in the disease.
Captive Black-Footed Ferrets: How to Get Back to Nature?
It is reported that the cloned black-footed ferret is now alive and well, and is raised at the U.S. Wildlife Service's Blackfoot Ferret Conservation Center, and scientists have high expectations for it. They hope that Elizabeth can be the seed of the succession, to produce offspring, and they hope that her offspring will eventually be able to break away from captivity, return to wildness, and return to nature.
They do wild tests on captive little guys, and as a natural enemy of marmots, they are actually frightened by a large marmot and hide at home and dare not go out. Scientists say getting them back to nature will be a long process. Until then, in addition to constantly training the wild nature of captive black-footed ferrets to plan for their return to nature, it is also necessary to prepare them with a large enough habitat.
But the original grasslands had been extensively reclaimed, and they had to find new targets. As a result, advocates for animal protection have suggested that the Thunder Basin National Prairies in northeastern Wyoming are a good choice. The 4 million-acre prairie is home to more than 800 native plants and a diverse network of prairie animals, including black-tailed dogs, various rodents, burrowing owls, and Swift foxes.
On top of that, there are plenty of prairie dogs and rats in this protected prairie habitat that provide an ample food source for the black-footed ferret. Of course, this will require convincing more people to support this idea, after all, it means that the locals have to work hard to protect rats such as prairie dogs and rats.
However, scientists also said that the current animal cloning technology is not fully accepted by everyone, some people expressed concern, these clones of black-footed ferrets released into the wild, will have an adverse impact on the local biological network and ecological environment, after all, they are cloned, not the original black-footed ferrets. To implement this plan well, scientists believe that efforts must be made to convince the people, and it is even more necessary to convince the owners of the land that they must understand that the plan will not affect their economic interests.
Author: Cream997 Review: Henna