What is the maximal age a Black-footed ferret reaches?
An adult Black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) usually gets as old as 12 years.
Black-footed ferrets are around 43 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 7 grams (0.02 lbs) and measure 2.1 cm (0′ 1″). As a member of the Mustelidae family (genus: Mustela), their offspring is 3 babies per pregnancy. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 39.7 cm (1′ 4″).
As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.
The black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), also known as the American polecat or prairie dog hunter, is a species of mustelid native to central North America. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN, because of its very small and restricted populations. The species declined throughout the 20th century, primarily as a result of decreases in prairie dog populations and sylvatic plague. It was declared extinct in 1979 until Lucille Hogg’s dog brought a dead black-footed ferret to her door in Meeteetse, Wyoming, in 1981. That remnant population of a few dozen ferrets lasted there until the animals were considered extinct in the wild in 1987. However, a captive-breeding program launched by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service resulted in its reintroduction into eight western US states, Canada, and Mexico from 1991 to 2009. Now, over 1,000 mature, wild-born individuals are in the wild across 18 populations, with five self-sustaining populations in South Dakota (two), Arizona, and Wyoming. It was first listed as “endangered” in 1982, then listed as “extinct in the wild” in 1996 before being downgraded back to “endangered” in 2008.The black-footed ferret is roughly the size of a mink, and differs from the European polecat by the greater contrast between its dark limbs and pale body and the shorter length of its black tail-tip. In contrast, differences between the black-footed ferret and the steppe polecat of Asia are slight, to the point where the two species were once thought to be conspecific. The only noticeable differences between the black-footed ferret and the steppe polecat are the former’s much shorter and coarser fur, larger ears, and longer postmolar extension of the palate.It is largely nocturnal and solitary, except when breeding or raising litters. Up to 91% of its diet is composed of prairie dogs.The black‐footed ferret experienced a recent population bottleneck in the wild followed by a more than 30-year recovery through ex situ breeding and then reintroduction into its native range. As such, this sole endemic North American ferret allows examining the impact of a severe genetic restriction on subsequent biological form and function, especially on reproductive traits and success. The black‐footed ferret was listed as endangered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 1967. Declared extinct in 1979, a residual wild population was discovered in Meeteetse, Wyoming, in 1981. This cohort eventually grew to 130 individuals and was then nearly extirpated by sylvatic plague Yersinia pestis and canine distemper virus Canine morbillivirus, with eventually 18 animals remaining. These survivors were captured from 1985 to 1987 to serve as the foundation for the black‐footed ferret ex situ breeding program. Seven of those 18 animals produced offspring that survived and reproduced, and with currently living descendants, are the ancestors of all black‐footed ferrets now in the ex situ (about 320) and in situ (about 300) populations.
Animals of the same family as a Black-footed ferret
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Mustelidae):
- European mink becoming 10 years old
- Sea otter becoming 30 years old
- Marbled polecat becoming 8.92 years old
- Patagonian weasel bringing the scale to 225 grams
- Molina’s hog-nosed skunk becoming 3.33 years old
- Amazon weasel bringing the scale to 268 grams
- Stoat becoming 7.08 years old
- Eastern spotted skunk becoming 10 years old
- Greater grison becoming 5.25 years old
- Back-striped weasel growing to a mass of 1.5 kgs (3.31 lbs)
Animals that reach the same age as Black-footed ferret
With an average age of 12 years, Black-footed ferret are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Side-striped jackal usually reaching 11.42 years
- Speke’s gazelle usually reaching 12.67 years
- Whiptail wallaby usually reaching 14 years
- Red squirrel usually reaching 12 years
- Blue duiker usually reaching 12 years
- Squirrel glider usually reaching 12 years
- Bates’s pygmy antelope usually reaching 14 years
- Meerkat usually reaching 12.5 years
- Red panda usually reaching 14 years
- Indian pangolin usually reaching 13.5 years
Animals with the same number of babies Black-footed ferret
The same number of babies at once (3) are born by:
- Northern brown bandicoot
- Arizona gray squirrel
- Peruvian tuco-tuco
- Jackson’s soft-furred mouse
- Nagtglas’s African dormouse
- Alpine pine vole
- Jentink’s dormouse
- Mexican volcano mouse
- Southeastern shrew
- Long-tailed marmot
Weighting as much as Black-footed ferret
A fully grown Black-footed ferret reaches around 907 grams (2 lbs). So do these animals:
- Nancy Ma’s night monkey with 791 grams
- Cape gray mongoose with 791 grams
- Northern greater galago with 812 grams
- Green acouchi with 966 grams
- Rio Mayo titi with 992 grams
- White-tailed prairie dog with 964 grams
- Angolan slender mongoose with 750 grams
- David’s echymipera with 817 grams
- Ollala brothers’s titi with 992 grams
- Yellow ground squirrel with 779 grams
Animals as big as a Black-footed ferret
Those animals grow as big as a Black-footed ferret:
- Vancouver Island marmot with 46.7 cm (1′ 7″)
- Bahamian raccoon with 46.2 cm (1′ 7″)
- Common opossum with 40.2 cm (1′ 4″)
- Grandidier’s mongoose with 35.9 cm (1′ 3″)
- American hog-nosed skunk with 42.2 cm (1′ 5″)
- Greater bamboo lemur with 37 cm (1′ 3″)
- Reclusive ringtail possum with 33.9 cm (1′ 2″)
- Chinese ferret-badger with 38.5 cm (1′ 4″)
- Yellow-bellied marmot with 41.2 cm (1′ 5″)
- Beech marten with 46 cm (1′ 7″)