Scientists track 'the secret underground lives' of an elusive animal

USA Today

13-02-2025

Scientists track 'the secret underground lives' of an elusive animal
If only black-footed ferrets had a brand ambassador like groundhogs have in Punxsutawney Phil.
The endangered ferrets don't quite feel the same love as the famous groundhog, but they do get a little help from their friends, a devoted group working to protect and restore the cute, if not cuddly, critters that rely on prairie dog colonies to survive.
Thanks to the development of a special ferret-sized tracking collar, scientists are now reviewing data collected last fall to peek into the secret underground lives of the rare and elusive animals.
'We have never been able to collect this type of information on black-footed ferrets,' said Jesse T. Boulerice, a research ecologist with the Great Plains Science Program at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
The black-footed ferret was believed to be extinct until 1981, when a small colony was found and ferrets were taken into captivity to launch a protected breeding colony. The breeding program was successful and ferrets have been reintroduced in more than a half-dozen states. However, the animals have been plagued by disease, habitat loss and other challenges.
After four decades of restoration efforts, they are still struggling to make a full recovery. That's where the tracking devices come in. Scientists wanted to know more about those first few days after ferrets are released into the wild, where the ferrets go and what they do.
Recovering the ecological landscapes for prairie dogs and ferrets is "one of the biggest challenges in North American rewilding," said Daniel Kinka, director of rewilding for American Prairie, a non-profit conservation organization. Rewilding refers to the process of restoring ecosystems to the point where nature can take care of itself.
"Understanding the secret underground lives of these animals will surely help us develop better restoration strategies for grasslands," Kinka said.
What to know about black-footed ferrets:
They're the only ferret native to North America, according to the Smithsonian.
Other ferret facts:
18 - 24 inches long, with a tail 5 - 6 inches
Weigh 1.5 - 2.5 pounds
Once ranged throughout North America's Great Plains from Canada to Mexico
Reintroduced into 34 sites in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming
Exploring burrows
In September, five black-footed ferrets fitted with the novel tracking devices were released in a prairie dog colony in the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana, in partnership with the reservation, the Smithsonian, Swansea University, Montana State University, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, American Prairie and the World Wildlife Fund.
The research team also tagged 50 of the engineers of ferret habitat and food resources – prairie dogs. Their colonies provide shelter for ferrets and many other species, and are the primary diet of the ferrets.
The data will help researchers 'see' the structure of the burrows and learn more about what the animals do when they're out of sight, helping to advance the study of both ferrets and prairie dogs, the partners said.
How do the ferret tracking collars work?
Together, the trackers and collars weigh about a half ounce. They collect and store data until the animal is recaptured and the device removed, unless the animal slips out of it.
Because of the ferrets' long, slim shape and the necessity of not making the collars too tight, the wily animals can slip out of the trackers, Boulerice said. Prairie dogs on the other hand have wider jaws that prevent them escaping the collars.
The tiny devices were removed from the ferrets after four days in the wild. Trackers on the prairie dogs were removed after 10-12 days. Boulerice said the team was surprised by how easy it was to recapture all the collared prairie dogs and remove the devices. 'It only took us 2-3 days of live-trapping to recapture all individuals.'
The batteries in the devices can last about two weeks but the memory chip inside the tracker, collecting data about 40 times per second, fills up after about eight days.
Boulerice called it an "incredible honor" to work with the endangered creatures, and enjoys the challenge of finding new ways to integrate technology into wildlife research. He said the technology "holds immense potential to help us understand the drivers of survival and mortality of these mysterious creatures, as well as increase our knowledge about their movement, behavior and activity patterns."
Partnering on ferrets
The fish and wildlife service has overseen the effort to reintroduce the ferrets, a program that now releases a few hundred ferrets into the wild every year.
The agency is "extremely excited" about the research, stated Tina Jackson, black-footed ferret recovery coordinator for the wildlife service. 'These insights are critical to helping our program better understand what impacts survival for black-footed ferrets in the wild and ensuring the species continues to rebound."
The tracking project, funded by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, will help researchers understand what the ferrets do in the immediate hours after their release into the wild, considered the most critical time period for their survival after release.
The Fort Belknap Indian Community has successfully returned the endangered black-footed ferret and Plains bison to its lands, which includes 657,000 acres managed by the federally recognized Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) and Assiniboine (Nakoda) Tribes. The Tribes also recently worked with the Smithsonian to reintroduce the swift fox.
Dinah Voyles Pulver covers climate change, wildlife and the environment for USA TODAY. Reach her at [e-mail] or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X.