Black-Footed Ferrets vs. Prairie Dogs
Black-footed ferrets were feared extinct in the 1970's until a rancher's dog in Wyoming came home with a dead one in its mouth, presumably killed by the dog. That event led to the discovery of several more of the animals living nearby.
About 90% of the black-footed ferret's diet consists of prairie dogs. Animal lovers find it hard to accept that sometimes one animal can only exist at the expense of another. Such is the case of the black-footed ferret and the cute prairie dog, cousins to the squirrels in backyards across America.
To make matters worse, wild ferrets are not the only animals that prey upon the small, burrowing prairie dog: coyotes, bobcats, badgers, golden eagles, and prairie falcons are also a threat. Then there are diseases like the bubonic plague, which entered North America via rats aboard European ships in the 1800s. The illness spread quickly through wild mammal populations, including black-tailed prairie dogs of the northern Great Plains. Unfortunately, the bubonic plague is still rampant in some areas, and when it does strike a prairie dog, it usually wipes out the entire colony.
There are only five species of prairie dogs—black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah, and Mexican. They are only found on the continent of North America. They are very social animals living in close-knit family groups called "coteries," which usually contain an adult male, one (or more) adult female, and their offspring. The coteries are grouped into wards (or neighborhoods), and several wards are called either a colony or a town.
Shoot them or save them, hate them or love them, there's little middle ground where prairie dogs are concerned. The government poisons them, developers bulldoze them, aficionados rescue them, while ranchers, complaining that they take the grass from grazing cows' mouths, brand them "prairie rats."
— Michael Long, in an Article in National Geographic Magazine
Ferrets and Ranchers vs. Prairie Dogs
Over the past century, prairie dog and black-footed ferret populations in the wild have drastically declined due to habitat loss, poisoning, and devastating outbreaks of sylvatic plague.
Between the ranchers and the black-footed ferrets, the prairie dogs of the plains may not have a fighting chance; the ferrets depend upon them almost solely for food and housing, and the ranchers depend upon the cattle with which they compete for forage. So it's challenging to lay the blame in anyone's court.
But black-footed ferrets are one of the most endangered species on the planet, and as recently as the 1970s, they were thought to be extinct. Then, in 1981, a colony of ferrets was discovered in Wyoming, but that colony was almost completely wiped out by canine distemper. Those that survived were rescued for a captive-breeding program which, to date, has resulted in over 7,000 young black-footed ferrets.
The ferrets kill the prairie dogs and claim their burrowed-tunnel housing as their own.
A wild ferret catching its prey, a prairie dog, which is a biological relative of groundhogs, chipmunks, marmots and woodchucks. There are only five species of prairie dogs - black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah and Mexican.
Can the Black-Footed Ferret and the Prairie Dog Both Survive in the Wild?
A wild ferret can eat up to 100 prairie dogs in a year. According to defenders.org, scientists estimate that a healthy population of ferrets would require more than 10,000 acres of prairie dogs to survive long-term.
Because their habitat has declined over the years, very few clusters of prairie dogs remain today that could meet that criterion. Conservation of healthy prairie dog colonies is essential for the continued existence of the black-footed ferret. But then, what about the continued existence of prairie dogs? The prairie dog colonies have been reduced to less than 5% of the area they once occupied due to habitat loss and interference by some humans who consider them vermin.
Defenders of Wildlife, a conservation group established to protect native animals and their habitat, and some of their conservation partners recently relocated hundreds of prairie dogs to a protected spot in the middle of the Thunder Basin National Grassland in eastern Wyoming. The relocation was to keep the animals from being either poisoned or shot by farmers attempting to keep them off their land and to restore 18,000 acres of prairie dog colonies.
Prairie Dogs Praying for Survival
Photography by Larry Jernigan
Black-Footed Ferrets vs. Domestic Ferrets
The significant difference between black-footed and pet ferrets is that they are different species (although related). The black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes) are the only ferret species native to North America, and they exist in the wild only in or near prairie dog colonies.
Domesticated pet ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) descended from European ferrets and have been domesticated for over 2,000 years.
Pet ferrets usually have longer fur than wild ferrets, and they can be many different colors ranging from white to black and many shades in between. However, black-footed ferrets are always the same—tan throughout the body with black on their feet, mask, and tail tip. They also have black noses, but most pet ferrets have pink ones.
If you own a pet ferret, you have probably noticed that your pet sleeps when you sleep and adjusts pretty much to any schedule you set forth regarding eating, etc.; black-footed ferrets, however, are typically nocturnal because the nighttime is a great time to sneak up on a sleeping prairie dog. Therefore, it is rare to see a black-footed ferret during the daytime.
Black-footed ferrets are territorial loners, ready to do whatever is necessary to keep other black-footed ferrets out of their hunting grounds. As a result, the only time you will see two of them together is during their breeding season.
If you've ever owned a pet ferret, you already know that these lovable bandits love to play with each other, although during the times they don't appear to be getting along, they are "play fighting." So if you see two black-footed ferrets fighting, it's the real thing.
References
- www.defenders.org (information retrieved from website on 5/16/2018
- Line, Les (1997). Phantom of the Plains - North America's Black-Footed Ferret, Wildlife Conservation Magazine, August 1997
- Long, Michael E. (1998), The Vanishing Prairie Dog, National Geographic Magazine, April 1998 (Pp 116-130)
© 2018 Mike and Dorothy McKenney
