As the cousin of the flat-headed brother, the black-footed ferret is mostly distributed in southern Canada, along the Rocky Mountains eastwards to oklahoma, Kansas and vast areas of Nebraska in the United States.
At first glance, the black-footed ferret really looks like "crisp noodles"! If you see it for the first time, you will definitely be overwhelmed by its form. What's even more interesting is that when they look around, you can't help but want to touch their heads!
<h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >01 is the only ferret native to North America, with a pale yellow body but 4 black legs</h3>
The black-footed ferret, also known as the black-footed ferret and the black-eyed ferret, is Chinese scientific name of the black-footed ferret, which belongs to the mammalian order, carnivorous order, ferret family, and ferret genus.
Native to North America, it is a small carnivorous mammal and the only ferret native to North America. Adult black-footed ferrets have slender bodies, males 30–45 cm long, tails 13–15 cm long, and weights 1–1.2 kg, with females being relatively smaller.
The coat is usually pale yellow , the belly appears paler , and the mouth , face , throat , and forehead are mostly white , but the top of the head , tip of the nose , and eye circles are black. A big dark tail, but the tip of the tail is black,
The most interesting thing is the four legs of the black-footed ferret, which is very short, not to mention, and it is all black, which is in stark contrast to the body. With strong forelimbs and larger forefoots, the black-footed ferret always feels "duai-duai-duai-" when walking.
<h3 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >02 is surprisingly lazy, does not repair the house by himself, directly occupies the nest of dogs and mice, and hides in the nest for a week in winter without going out of the hole to forage</h3>
The use of "lone ranger" to describe a black-footed ferret is not excessive. They always like to move alone, come and go alone, the male does not like to seduce the sister, and the mother does not steal the man. But in March, when the flower season is in full bloom and the estrus season is coming, they will gather together to "fall in love".
The black-footed ferret is a burrowing nocturnal animal that is difficult to see during the day. Once in winter, it is difficult to see it at night, when black-footed ferrets do not like to come out and walk around to forage, and sometimes they can even hide in the nest for a week and not come out to forage.
Not only is this product too lazy to come out to eat, but it is also too lazy to build a nest. They never burrow and build nests, and the better ones occupy the abandoned burrows of prairie dogs and rats; and worse, they drive the dogs away or kill them, and directly occupy their nests. In this way, it will really save yourself trouble!
Black-footed ferrets have a strong sense of territory, often use urine to mark their territory or route home, and they often fight between their peers because of territorial disputes.
Estrus began in March, after 35-45 days of pregnancy to lay cubs, a litter of 3-6 cubs, the newly born cubs are half the size of adult black-footed ferrets, but the cubs are born without vision, and they have to stay in the hole for more than 40 days to go out.
<h3 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >03 ruthless hunter, who loves to eat prairie dogs and rats, and is inseparable from the groundhogs, eating more than 100 groundhogs a year</h3>
The diet of black-footed ferrets mainly includes rodents such as prairie dogs, ground squirrels and marmots, and of course, birds and insects. This product is cute and cute, especially loves to eat prairie dogs and rats.
Black-footed ferrets are the natural enemies of prairie dogs, and there is no ambiguity in eating canine rats, and prairie dogs alone account for about 90% of the total food sources of black-footed ferrets.
Whoever called the dog a fool, when he saw the black-footed ferret, ran into his hole and hit the black-footed ferret's plan. Due to its slender size, the black-footed ferret can burrow into the prairie dog's burrow and hunt it, while also using the prairie dog's home as its "mansion".
Of course, the survival of the black-footed ferret is also inseparable from the groundhog. In Canada, a black-footed ferret needs 40-60 hectares of territory with a large number of groundhogs, and a black-footed ferret eats more than 100 groundhogs a year.
<h3 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >04 Declared extinct in the 1970s! 10 years later, 120 more were found, and only 18 were left due to an epidemic</h3>
In the animal world, ferrets, although small in size, are full of warlike spirits, of which the flat-headed brother is the most famous. Of course, other ferrets are also ruthless hunters.
Only in the last century, many ferrets have had a hard time surviving due to habitat destruction. Among them, the black-footed ferret distributed in Canada became extinct in 1937, and in 1967 there was no record of discovery in the United States for more than a decade, so scientists concluded that by the 1970s, the black-footed ferret had died out!
But 10 years later, scientists found about 120 black-footed ferrets in Wyoming, USA, and everyone was happy to find ways to protect them, however, the next year, the epidemic broke out in the region.
To prevent the spread of the black-footed ferret disease, biologists even used drones to put vaccine bait into their habitat, but most black-footed ferrets were killed by the sudden outbreak of 2 diseases, leaving only 18, and one foot of the population once again crossed the threshold of extinction.
In the end, the scientists had no choice but to capture the 18 wild ferrets, began artificial captive breeding, and slowly grew to thousands, and the offspring of these ferrets were reintroduced into the Chihuahua state of Mexico and 8 regions of the United States, including the Aubrey Valley in Arizona.
Thanks to the efforts of scientists, the domesticated black-footed ferrets were helped survive in the wild, and by 2013, the wild population of black-footed ferrets slowly recovered to more than 1,200, making this group of endangered species save from the line of life and death, which is really lucky.
< h3 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h3>
Some people believe that as long as humans do not interfere with the natural behavior of animals and do not do anything harmful to them, they are protecting them. However, more people are calling for the active intervention of humans to protect animals, and humans need to give direct help to some animals that are about to become extinct.
Snow Spirit Valley Animal Lab/Production
References: Nature Journal, Human and Nature Magazine, China Green Times, China Forestry Network, Wildscreen