Possibly black-footed ferrets never were abundant, but their underground nocturnal habits make it difficult for biologists to know for certain. First described by naturalists John Audubon and James Bachman in 1851, black-footed ferrets were not sighted again for 25 years. Ferrets once were found throughout the Great Plains, from Texas to southern Saskatchewan, Canada. Their range extended from the Rocky Mountains east through the Dakotas and south through Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Where prairie dogs were found, so were black-footed ferrets.
Ferrets eat prairie dogs and live in prairie dogs' burrows.
Typical wild ferret behavior revolves around prairie dog towns. This is especially true of the female ferrets hunting to feed their young. In search of prey, they move along in loping bounds from one burrow to the next. When they make a kill, ferrets may drag prairie dogs some distance to a home burrow to devour below ground or to burrows in which they have their young. Black-footed ferrets produce about four or five young once each year.