AMAR-In the comfortable environment of a plastic tote bag with clean shredded paper and a bloody quarter of a groundhog used to eat snacks, and when the eagle hovered on it, he was shot into a yawning black hole. In time, the rarest mammal in North America has the genetic weight of the world on its furry shoulders.
The black-footed ferret No. 10166 desperately stuck to the inside of a black PVC pipe. The tawny cub seemed unwilling to sneak into a lone prairie dog hole a 5-hour drive from a breeding center near the border of Wyoming, and assumed the responsibility of restoring a species that was considered extinct before 1981.
It chattered like a mad dolphin, backing alternately and leaping on the heavy leather gloves of the trainer. Elsewhere in the vast uncultivated short grass prairie of May Ranch, the other 14 cubs are about to enter other holes.
Colorado spent 8 years dumping 500 ferrets in the homes of surprised marmots. Biologists still cannot determine how many shy nocturnal animals have reproduced. Between the plague, relentless development, and the wandering coyote, they will not officially rebuild the black-footed ferret until No. 10,166 and its half-siblings have more babies.
State and federal biologists were so eager to put more genetic material in the ferret puzzle, so much so that they cloned one. Born in December, she is now respected worldwide as Elizabeth Ann.
She has not reproduced yet. They asked Elizabeth Ann to organize some personal belongings in a compound of the National Blackfoot Ferret Conservation Center in northeast Wellington. This is also where No. 10, 166 and dozens of other kits throw live groundhogs into the wall for practice. At the same place, these kits also received travel-sized prairie dog parts snacks to ease their long journey to Lamar.
Since biologists and other partners of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service became matchmakers for mustelids in the 1980s, this kit perched above a hole near a creek at May Ranch has been marked as the 10,166th animal A black-footed ferret that was bred. Ferrets are a key balance of life on the grasslands of North America. They kept the number of prairie dogs within a controllable range-with vampire-length fangs, yes, but still so. this point is very important.
Groundhogs help keep the soil healthy without dying from the plague, and they reluctantly provide homes for burrowing owls. When burrowing owls do not want groundhogs to reclaim their homes, they will make sounds that mimic rattlesnakes. Rattlesnakes and owls can prevent mice from becoming arrogant. Life circle and so on.
Scientists assume that wild ferrets have been extinct since the 1950s. Those ferrets that that strange guy in your university is holding on a leash are domestic ferrets. The paradox is that they are imported. totally different.
Then a Wyoming dog lost a dead but attractive package at the door of its owner. It turned out to be a black-footed ferret. The dog's name is Shep, because of course it is.
Biologists dispersed and captured a group of about 15 wild ferrets. Only seven continue to reproduce, so No. 10166 and all other genetic populations before him are. . . good. .. The polite term is "no difference".
Holding tightly to his car carrier, the No. 10,166 gene can use more protection before sneaking into his survival hunt in the late afternoon. Biologists who visited Lamar this week thought they had found some.
Colorado biologists trek through the Lamar field with a ferret transporter in hand and are excited to see turquoise pee around the prairie dog hole. They have been throwing blue-green plague vaccine particles into the hole, wondering if they were eaten. This week, Rainbow Poop proved that their recipes are becoming a local favorite.
With all the trouble, all the federal-state-private-non-profit funding, all the science, all the groundhog snacks, a guest from May Ranch looked at No. 10,166 and thought about his fate and asked the chatter How much the toolkit might be worth. Price tag: $5,000 to $10,000, this is a quick answer.
When costs rise, US Fish & Wildlife and its partners such as the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife will quickly mention another number: 130. This is an endless death race that depends on the number of healthy and competitive Ferret v. Praired plant, animal and insect species.
Groundhogs eat 90% of plants. Black-footed ferrets eat 90% of groundhogs.
So the guests have to ask, is this a fair fight because the ferret carriers ominously keep their balance on the prairie dog hole?
Colorado Ferret Wrangler Tina Jackson thought for a while. She pointed out that adult ferrets and groundhogs are the same size, so this seems a bit fair. In addition, groundhogs use day shifts. When they found a hole where they sniffed a sleeping nocturnal ferret, they buried it. The ferret will eventually be dug out, but does this seem unfair?
Pete Gober of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service standing nearby grunted. It was the grunt of a man who raised the ferret to become their fully realized selves, perhaps thinking that the groundhog needs to suck it, buttercups.
"Fair!" Gobert blurted out. "What's fair about wild animals?"
Tired of the daytime shyness and survival anxiety of No. 10,166, state biologist Jonathan Reitz took out an old antler-shaped crowbar. You cannot eliminate the "danger" of endangered species. But you can take the ferret out of the cage.
Reitz used a black PVC pipe to pry over the edge of the car bracket. Suddenly, the ferret spread out at the end of the pipe to prevent it from falling, just like parachuting at the door of an airplane for the first time. There was a few more chatterings, and then disappeared, disappearing into the hole. Reitz threw the bloody, chewed car treats of ferrets into the hole as a small gift for housewarming.
Suddenly, a group of groundhogs nearby texted each other "just happened".
In order to respect the feelings of prairie dogs, it is mentioned that the ratio of canine teeth to skull of black-footed ferrets is the largest among all living mammals. Reitz and other handlers wear masks—perhaps to protect these precious greenhouse creatures from COVID-19, or to protect their noses from being used as snacks.
So now, biologists have been asked? The state’s top scientists just invested $250,000 in research this week in a series of humble prairie dog holes from Pueblo to the border of Wyoming. Black-footed ferrets spend at least 23 hours underground every day.
Will they call home at least on Thanksgiving?
"Who knows," Jackson laughed. "We may not see them for three months."
Each ferret has a chip, like the one you can put under the fur of a dog's neck. But you have to find them first-handheld chip readers can only work within a few feet. The Mei family that keeps ferrets will look for signs of alive or dead cubs, and biologists will return in the spring to look for breeding pairs. Or at least, survive.
"These guys did a great job in the winter," Jackson said.
A female ferret needs 30 to 40 acres of land to find enough groundhogs to survive. They eat a whole one every two days. In total, Colorado needs 50,000 acres of healthy prairie dogs to feed the 250 wild ferrets it hopes to see as an established population.
Housing developers and most farmers don’t want to raise marmots in Colorado—they break their ankles and destroy machinery, gnaw valuable crops, and attract coyotes. May pastures are dry land operations, without irrigation or farming, so marmots are very good to them. Dallas May is happy to open the door to the ferrets he thinks should have been here.
"For us, it’s a different philosophy. We want groundhogs, we want coyotes. We want rattlesnakes. We want black-footed ferrets. We want what's there. We want The things that don't exist, the things that should be there, come in," he said.
The pasture has not rained for three months in May, and the dust on the pickup truck will roll over like a storm cloud. But one day in mid-November, the early golden hour passed through the short grass and spread to the scattered clover, this 15,000 acre land glowed with hope.
Ferret 10,169 decided to enjoy the sunset on the ground instead of exploring the underground colony. The VIP bus returned to the May Barn, and biologists were optimistic that their latest efforts might really gain a foothold. Some wildlife organizations estimate that despite their tremendous efforts, there are only 300 black-footed ferrets living in the wild in the world.
The point is that when you start with "extinction", any signs of life after that are gravy.
Perhaps the undulating natural wonders of the Arkansas River Corridor will please new homeowners. Maybe the peanut butter-flavored rainbow particles can resist the plague.
Maybe the badger who lives in the huge cave they just walked through will temporarily ignore its ferret cousins instead of eating them.
"This is what we did in the southeast corner," said a wildlife officer after tilting the No. 10,168 ferret into a new life when the sun went down to the horizon. "Lower people's expectations, then skip them."
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