The black-footed ferret could also be called the black-eyed ferret because of the distinctive “stick-em up” mask that adorns its face. The tan ferrets also have black markings on their feet ...

In an outdoor enclosure, two juvenile black-footed ferrets pounce and somersault, tumbling over each other in a playful fight. The loser breaks free and rushes into a tunnel lined with a plastic tube.

“The males are more desirable because they can produce more babies in a lifetime,” Novak said. The male used for cloning had died of canine distemper, a deadly disease to black-footed ferrets.

Small and slender, the black-footed ferret was once abundant in Canada’s grasslands until the agricultural boom in the early 1900s. By 1974, this ferret was thought to be extinct until a tiny ...

Back From the Brink Black-footed ferrets were declared extinct in 1979, victims of disease, loss of their prairie habitat, and the poisoning and shooting of their prey, prairie dogs. A few years ...

Presently, ferrets survive at 14 of those sites. Currently there are 340 black-footed ferrets in the wild and 301 in captivity. For decades the Center has been defending this species from threats like ...