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The black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), also known as the American polecat [4] or prairie dog hunter, [5] is a species of mustelid native to central North America. The black-footed ferret is roughly the size of a mink and is similar in appearance to the European polecat and the Asian steppe polecat. It is largely nocturnal and solitary ...
The modern classification arose in 1982 when Phillip M. Youngman placed the black-footed ferret into Putorius. [3] The ancestor of modern polecats and ferrets and earliest true polecat is considered to be Mustela stromeri , a smaller species whose size indicated polecats evolved at a late period.
In the United States, the term polecat is sometimes applied to the black-footed ferret, a native member of the Mustelinae. In Southern United States dialect, the term polecat is sometimes used as a colloquial nickname for the skunk, which is part of the family Mephitidae. [2]
The animal was a black-footed ferret, once abundant in the American West with a range that stretched into Canada and Mexico, but by the 1980s the species was believed to have been wiped out.
The black-footed ferret species was thought to be extinct in 1981, but was later rediscovered and has now been given a second chance thanks to conservation efforts. The aim is to work towards ...
The black-footed ferret is entirely dependent on another keystone species, the prairie dog. A family of four ferrets eats 250 prairie dogs in a year; this requires a stable population of prairie dogs from an area of some 500 acres (2.0 km 2).
Black-footed ferrets are mainly solitary creatures, except during mating season or when raising young. They live in prairie dog colonies and prairie dogs make up to ninety percent of their diet ...
The steppe polecat's closest relatives are the European polecat and black-footed ferret, with which it is thought to have shared Mustela stromeri as a common ancestor. [7] The steppe polecat likely diverged from the European polecat 1.5 million years ago based on IRBP , though cytochrome b transversions indicate a younger date of 430,000 years ...