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Species Information

Kingdom: Animalia
  Phylum: Craniata
    Class: Mammalia
      Order: Carnivora
        Family: Mustelidae
          Genus: Mustela
            Species: nigripes

Black-Footed Ferret - Mustela nigripes

345396

Species Extent (New Mexico)

General Description

Black-footed Ferret (Mustela nigripes) is a medium-sized (0.56 m) weasel that was historically widely distributed across the Great Plains of the U.S. and Canada before being considered extinct in the wild. The ferret has been reintroduced to at least 21 sites. Sites in the following states/provinces were considered to have breeding adults: Arizona, Chihuahua, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. They inhabit open grasslands, steppe, and shrub steppe where there are prairie dogs. Prairie dogs comprise about 90% of their diet.

Status

Global Rank: G1

State Rank: S1

State Status:

Federal Status: Listed Endangered [LE]

USFS Status:

BLM Status:

SWAP Status: SGCN

NMRP Strategy Status:

Observations in Natural Heritage New Mexico Database

Number of Subpopulations: 3

Number of Mapped Locations: 4

Number of Observations: 4

Observation date range: 03-18-1915 to 01-01-1975

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