Black-Footed Ferret

With its charming black mask, the Black-Footed Ferret is the only ferret species native to North America and one of the continent's most endangered mammals. These nocturnal creatures sleep up to 21 hours, waking at night to hunt, eat, and care for their young. Ferrets rely heavily on prairie dogs for food, which make up 90% of their diet. Sadly, diseases lethal to prairie dogs and farmers’ efforts to eliminate them to protect cattle have, in turn, devastated ferret populations. Until 1981, Black-Footed Ferrets were thought extinct. Then, a dog named Shep found a dead ferret on a Wyoming ranch. This discovery led to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Captive Breeding and Release program, restoring nearly 350 ferrets. Today, about 120 live in Badlands National Park, with 80 in the Conata Basin, the only self-sustaining population