Yes black footed ferrets are an endangered species and protected by federal law
Domestic ferrets are not rare. Black footed ferrets are an endangered species
Black-footed ferrets are carnivores (meat-eaters) and their main food source is the prairie dog. Prairie dogs are rodents and live in aggregations called towns or colonies. A prairie dog is as large as or larger than a black-footed ferret. The ferret attacks the prairie dog while it is sleeping below ground at night with quick bite to the neck to suffocate it. Black-footed ferrets have sharp teeth that can easily shear through the prairie dog bones and eats all parts of the prairie dog.Black footed ferrets also eat birds and small rodents such as mice, eggs and small reptiles.
Not rare but they are very unique! That's for sure!
Technically a black footed ferret is rare. They are endangered and you cant own them as pets
Black footed ferrets, as well as domestic ferrets, share the common but rare trait of having an inverted spine - this makes them very very flexible, able to twist in odd ways and fit through small openings. However, it prevents them from bending backwards, due to the direction the spine faces. This fact also explains why they often look hunched or rounded.
They are not as common as brown. Also, Ferrets with a whit head may be blind.
Black footed ferrets exact origin is unknown, but they first appeared in North America approximately 100,000 years ago, and came from across the Bering Strait.The black footed ferret is native to North America in the grassland biome and are today found in the Great Plains states such as Montana, New Mexico, and Arizona where they live on prairie dog towns.The black footed ferret lives in the North American prairie and grassland. There are three distinct areas of prairie - Tallgrass prairie, Mixed-grass prairie and Shortgrass prairie. In the United States, the greatest stretch of grassland is the prairie, extending from the Appalachians in the East to the Rocky Mountains in the West. Being in the center of the North American land mass, far from the moderating influence of major bodies of water, there is a great range of annual temperature.The dominant vegetation in these biotic communities is blue grama, mixed with galleta grass, Indian rice grass, and other grasses.Black footed ferret habitat and food sourceBlack-footed ferrets are carnivores (meat-eaters) and their survival depends on prairie dogs as their main food source.Prairie dogs comprise 90 percent of the diet of black-footed ferrets. A ferret family of 4 will consume an average 763 prairie dogs per year. A prairie dog is as large as or larger than a black-footed ferret. The ferret will attack a prairie dog below ground at night when the prairie dog is sleeping. The ferret places a bite on the neck or throat of the prairie dog to suffocate it. The close confines of the burrow make it difficult for their prey to escape. Black-footed ferrets eat all parts of the prairie dog and have sharp teeth that can easily shear through the prairie dog bones. They also eat small rodents such as mice, eggs and small reptiles.Black footed ferrets do not dig their own burrows, and require the burrows of prairie dogs for shelter and to raise families, sometimes of prairie dogs they have eaten. Prairie dogs are rodents and live in aggregations called towns or colonies in burrows which can be as much as 15 feet deep and 60 feet long and sometimes connect with other burrows. Prairie dogs use prairie and grassland habitat ranging from the mid-west to the western United States. They are considered a key indicator species for the health of prairie and grassland habitat. When the black footed ferret takes a prairie dog burrow to live in, they alter it by backing out the dirt held against its chest and drags the dirt farther from the burrow entrance each time. The result is a trench 8-12 cm wide and up to 3.5 m long. These trenches are formed mostly at night and, if fresh, are a sure sign of the presence of a ferret as no other species of animal living in a dog town leaves this type of structure.The Black-footed ferret has special adaptations, They are extremely, highly specialized predators with powerful jaws. With a bite to the back of the neck of it's prey - the prairie dog, can be twice it's size. The black footed ferret has a long, slender body and short legs that allows them to use the prairie dog's burrow for shelter. They spend a majority of their time in the burrows avoiding predators. Black-footed ferrets are primarily nocturnal and are active in winter.Black footed ferret habitat lossBlack-footed ferrets - once ranged over a large area across the Great Plains/Rocky Mountain states and Canadian province and found on black-tailed prairie dog colonies across the Great Plains from southern Canada to northern Mexico, and on white-tailed and Gunnison's prairie dog colonies across the intermountain west. They used to be found in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming and portions of Canada and Mexico before becoming extinct in the wild. By 1986 they were completely gone from the wild. In the early 1900's humans eradicated prairie dogs and destroyed prairie dog habitat. Ranchers see the prairie dog as a competitor for the grass that cattle eat, so they have poisoned prairie dogs with harmful chemicals that sometimes killed other animals. Also, many prairie dog towns have been plowed over for crop fields or destroyed for human development. Diseases, like sylvatic plague, have also reduced prairie dog populations. Scientists estimated we have lost as much as 98% of the prairie dog habitat that once existed. As human encroachment and other factors reduced the populations of prairie dogs, this also reduced ferret populations. The black footed ferret have been successfully reintroduced to 15 locations in their former range in the states of Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Kansas and Chihuahua, Mexico.Black footed ferret are also exhibited in zoos across North America. You can see a black-footed ferret in a zoo since ferrets are very rare and difficult to see in the wild. Many zoos and several federal agency's visitor centers across North America have black-footed ferrets on display.You can see a live black footed ferret at zoos in:Akron Zoo, Akron, OH (call to verify first)Binder Park Zoo, Battle Creek, MIBramble Park Zoo, Watertown, SDCheyenne Mountain Zoo, Colorado Springs, CODakota Zoo, Bismarck, NDElmwood Park Zoo, Norristown, PAFort Worth Zoo, Fort Worth, TX (call to verify first)Henry Doorly Zoo, Omaha, NE (call to verify first)Hogle Zoo, Salt Lake City, UTHutchinson Zoo, Hutchinson, KSLake Superior Zoo, Duluth, MNLee Richardson Zoo, Garden City, KSLouisville Zoological Gardens, Louisville, KYNational Zoological Park, Washington, D.C.North Eastern Wisconsin Zoo, Green Bay, WIPhoenix Zoo, Phoenix, AZSan Antonio Zoological Gardens and Aquarium, San Antonio, TXSan Diego Wild Animal Park, Escondido, CATexas Zoo, Victoria, TXToronto Zoo, Scarborough, Ontario, CanadaZoo Montana, Billings, MTRefer to links below for more detailed description:
Black armbands used to be warn during mourning, but they are rare now.
Black Coral is rare, extremely rare...
Most ferrets sold in the US are from Marshall Farms, the largest ferret breeder in the US does not sell cinnamon ferrets. In the UK, there are more small ferret breeders probably selling cinnamon ferrets. In the US there are very few small ferret breeders.
Yes the black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) is endangered. The species is naturally rare and only occurs in Southern Africa, however their small populations are being threatened by loss of habitat and persecution. Their status on IUCN Red Data list (2008) is Vulnerable - which means the species is likely to become Endangered (high risk of extinction) if circumstances continue to deteriorate.