Talk:Black-footed ferret

Extinct in the nature?

The data in the table says the species is extinct in the nature but the text describes how they have lately been reintroduced to the wild. How should this be interpreted? --EnSamulili 17:50, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Good question. According to the Colorado Division of Wildlife, the wild population in the US is now 400. According to National Parks Conservation Association, the conservation status is Endangered. Made these updates to the article. Throbblefoot 20:14, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

I did a bit more research after the recent change made my the anon IP user. According to IUCN conservation status list [1], the status is "extinct in the wild." I'm tempted to update the article with that information. Comments? Thanks, Throbblefoot 23:29, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

I have done so. The red list data is from 1996. Listed it as "Endangered" since September 20, 2005 under the ESA; I exchanged the IUCN data with the ESA one. Dysmorodrepanis 01:07, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Um, someone changed it back. :P So I changed to to endangered again. Mumbles (talk) 02:18, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Someone also keeps changing it back to extinct in the wild, when it is clearly endangered, but in the wild. It states in the article that it is indeed an out of date assumption that it is EW status. Changing it to endangered. Clawmaster 01:16, 8 August 2008

I added a personally taken and quite recent photograph of a black-footed ferret in the wild, just to enhance the idea that the "extinct in the wild" label is obsolete. I hope you all enjoy the photo! Clawmaster 20:22, 24 August 2008

Raccoon?

Why is there a picture of a raccoon on the front page? I understand they look alike, but I can see no way that a picture of a raccoon is actually relevant. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.229.173.248 (talk • contribs) 17:21, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

The revision as of 01:34, 16 July 2006 did indeed have a photo of a Raccoon (captioned as such) as its only illustration. How bizarre! Later that month the raccoon photo was replaced by a couple of black-footed ferrets photos. -- ToE 16:28, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

Capitalization

Why was this article moved back to "Black-footed Ferret" from "Black-footed ferret"? The edit summary says "fauna convention for mammals" but I have no idea where this "convention" is. Powers ^T 01:55, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't know what convention particular to mammals they are talking about, but the word ferret is not a pronoun. I don't think it should be capitalized in this case. VanTucky ^(talk) 02:15, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

• Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna) --Peta 02:23, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Mammals#Capitalization Zsero 03:35, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Current Conservation Status

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/full/14020/0 is endangered (EN). Aepryus (talk) 08:25, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Kansas population

Didn't TNC recently introduce a population in Western Kansas? This got a lot of attention because of the antagonism from ranchers and Kansas State officials, who wanted to poison local prairie dog towns. Matthias5 (talk) 13:56, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

The Dimensions in the article are wrong

Ferrets are not that large. Someone with knowledge about ferrets should correct this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Deathkill14 (talk • contribs) 19:56, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

A vandal had changed "inches" to "feet" a couple of days earlier. The previous "18 to 24 inches long, including a 5-6 inches tail" was restored a few days after this comment. Thanks. -- ToE 15:18, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

Canadian population

According to this article, there is also a population in Saskatchewan, Canada. http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/blog/update-black-footed-ferrets 2001:569:7857:4900:B8C8:4F61:6E26:7830 (talk) 22:52, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

Oh NVM, the re-introduction was unsuccessful. https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/bringing-black-footed-ferrets-back-from-the-brink-180632225.html 2001:569:7857:4900:B8C8:4F61:6E26:7830 (talk) 22:56, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

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Size

Males measure 500–533 millimetres (19.7–21.0 in) in body length and 114–127 millimetres (4.5–5.0 in) in tail length, thus constituting 22–25% of its body length. Females are typically 10% smaller than males.

Can anyone verify this source? The proportions and sizes seem kind of off. The black-footed ferrets I've seen in images and videos always looked smaller than domestic ferrets. TangoFett (talk) 02:07, 25 June 2016 (UTC)

Captive breeding program launch in error.

It is well known that the captive breeding program that saved the species was not launched by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. It was launched, and maintained until 1996 by the Wyoming Game & Fish. Please see this page on the Wyoming Game and Fish website under the heading "At the Forefront of Endangered Species Research and Recovery". This omission of mention for the Wyoming Game and Fish is a glaring error, that seems very wrong, and perhaps political.AE7EC (talk) 07:19, 19 August 2016 (UTC)

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Population numbers

    The article currently says:  "As of 2013, about 1,200 ferrets are thought to live in the wild.[38]"

I don't think this population number is correct. Probably more like 400-500. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.210.118.222 (talk) 02:35, 29 December 2018 (UTC)

About the conservation efforts, question about determining if the source is reliable

Here's the source in the question: Black-Footed Ferrets: Captive Breeding. It's a video released by a Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The main takeaway from the video for me is that the survival of the species was dependent on a single male named "Scarface", and the attempts to catch him took a very long time. Would that video be allowed as a reliable source? --Sleeps-Darkly (talk) 20:11, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

There are other sources that might make life easier - see here, here and here. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 20:20, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

Status contradictions

• The text states that the Black-footed ferret was identified in 1851, but that 86 pelts were sold in the 1830s. Were they misidentified? That seems like a large number of pelts for no-one to realize this was a new species.

• The ferret was listed as extinct in 1979, proven extant in 1981, extinct in the wild in 1987, and re-introduced via a program begun in 1991? I presume a captive program existed sometime between 1981 and 1987?

• The dates in the intro are not consistent, and they also are inconsistent with the dates listed in the History section:

Date citation

"...first listed as endangered in 1967..."

"...relisted on January 4, 1974..."

"...It was first listed as 'endangered' in 1982..."

"...'endangered' in 2008..."

"...1996 assessment, when it was considered extinct in the wild..."

"....It was declared extinct in 1979..."

"...the animals were considered extinct in the wild in 1987..."

"'extinct in the wild' in 1996..."

161.225.96.66 (talk) 16:53, 24 August 2020 (UTC)

• Is there a separate strain of black plague that infects prairie dogs and ferrets? Or can humans get the black plague from them?

• Black-footed ferrets look more like Steppe ferrets but are closer related to polecats? Is that how I reconcile their description with the phylogenetic trees shown under the Mustelidea listing? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.175.220.10 (talk) 18:57, 18 October 2019 (UTC)

Cloning

Scientists clone the first U.S. endangered species -Sleeps-Darkly (talk) 21:31, 19 February 2021 (UTC)