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 About Ferrets

The black-footed ferret is North America’s rarest mammal and one of its most elusive, a small predator that feeds on animals nearly its own size. Found nowhere else in the world, the species is an American original. Here are 13 ferret facts you may want to know.


1. The black-footed ferret (BFF), a member of the weasel family (which includes otters and wolverines), grows up to 30 inches long, including its tail, and weighs up to two-and-a-half pounds.

2. Ferrets probably got their start 3 or 4 million years ago in Europe and came to North America at least 100,000 years ago via the Bering Land Bridge, which connected Siberia to Alaska during the most recent ice age.

3. Once established in North America, the BFF ranged from the prairies of southern Canada to Texas (perhaps even into northern Mexico), and from the Rockies east into the Dakotas, living in a dozen states and two Canadian provinces.

4. In North America, the ferret became a specialist in preying on prairie dogs. It lives in prairie dog towns, coming out at night to hunt. A family of four can pack away an average of some 760 prairie dogs yearly.

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