The black-footed ferret, also known as the black-footed ferret, is a carnivorous mammal native to North America and the only ferret native to North America. The body length is 31-41 cm, the tail is 11-15 cm, and the weight is 0.8-1 kg. The rooster is slightly larger, with yellow upper body and gray lower body. The tail is darker in color and the tip of the tail is black. The mouth, face, throat and forehead are white. The transition color between black and white is tawny. There is a black mask around the eyes and the tip of the nose is black. , legs are short, forelimbs are strong, and front claws are large for digging. Black-footed ferrets have higher requirements for habitat. A black-footed ferret requires 40-60 hectares of land. Its survival is inseparable from woodchucks. A black-footed ferret eats 100 woodchucks every year. Wild ferrets only live in three places in the United States: northeastern Montana, western South Dakota, and southeastern Wyoming. All three areas were reintroduced after the original black-footed ferret became extinct.
The black-footed ferret is a burrowing animal. Alert, flexible, and active at night. The area is about 50 hectares. They are usually solitary, but they gather during the estrus season from March to April. Black-footed ferrets have very sensitive hearing, vision and smell, and their urine is an important communication tool, used to mark their territory or route home. ?
The black-footed ferret is a nocturnal animal and likes to be alone. They never dig holes, but use the holes left by prairie dogs for resting and hunting. In winter, they always try to reduce their activities as much as possible, and may even hide in their nests for 5-6 days without coming out to look for food. Black-footed stoats are very territorial, and members of the same sex often fight over territory. The black-footed ferret hunts woodchucks and ground squirrels, mainly prairie dogs, which account for about 90% of the total food of the black-footed ferret. Its survival is inseparable from that of the woodchuck. A ferret eats about 100 woodchucks each year and sometimes even lives in their burrows. Black-footed ferrets have a form of sexual dimorphism, with males being larger than females. Females will actively pursue males during mating season. The way weasels get pregnant is called "delayed implantation", which means that the fertilized egg begins to develop under the right conditions for pregnancy. A female ferret becomes sexually mature at one year old and has three pairs of nipples.
The breeding period generally lasts from March to April. Pregnancy 35-45 days. On average, 1-6 eggs are laid per clutch, with an average of 3.5 eggs. The cubs have poor eyesight when they are born, and the cubs will stay in the cave for about 42 days before leaving the nest. In the summer of July and August, the female and her cubs live together. The newborn cubs are not weak and can reach half or even three-quarters of the size of an adult black-footed ferret when they are born. They mature in autumn and live independently away from the nest. An important reason for the sharp decline in the number of ferrets is the continued decline in the number of prairie dogs, their main food source. In the 20th century, in order to eliminate the damaging effects of this rodent on pastures, ranchers put out large amounts of poisonous baits. These poisonous baits also destroyed the black-footed ferrets, which rely on prairie dogs as their main food source; their habitats were destroyed. Destruction; natural disaster, disease.