Our plots are teeming with ferrets. A family of four on Plot #6 inhabits the burrows between traps #21 and #22, which might explain why we haven’t caught the two specific PDs we are targeting in that area.
When I first saw a black-footed ferret, I was amazed at its size… tiny! Also agile, sinuously long and a periscope-like neck as it peeks from the burrow. Ferrets don’t outsize or outweigh prairie dogs, so to kill PDs, they rely on the element of surprise and strike while PDs are asleep during the night. Ferrets have elongated bodies, ideal for living in narrow burrows and they use their bodies to pin PDs to burrow walls during an attack. They kill with a single bite to the neck, which slowly suffocates the PD.
Because PDs can be rather hefty, a black-footed ferret needs to be a highly skilled predator. And they are not always successful – we have caught many PDs with what appear to be ferret-inflicted wounds.
Black-footed ferrets are entirely dependent on PDs to survive – in addition to food, ferrets also live in PD burrows which provide warmth and protection from other predators (badgers and raptors will kill and eat ferrets, while coyotes will kill and bury them – ferrets are not a source of food for coyotes, rather a competitor that coyotes will eliminate opportunistically).
As nocturnal animals, tracking ferrets involves driving around with a spotlight, and keeping a keen eye out for green eyeshine. Ferrets are inherently curious and will often check you out – allowing for some surprising close-ups.
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