The Smithsonian’s National Zoo has launched a live webcam for its litter of endangered black-footed ferrets and their mother.
The temporary webcam is hosted by the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute on its website.
It has been launched to celebrate the recent arrival of eight black-footed ferret kits, born on 28 May to two-year-old mother Aristides.
The ferret family is currently living in an off-exhibit area at the zoo‘s conservation science campus in Front Royal, Virginia.
Via the webcam, viewers can watch the kits grow and reach key milestones, such as opening their eyes and exploring their enclosure.
Per a press release, black-footed ferret kits mature quickly and seek independence from their mother at around 90 days old.
Black-footed ferret conservation efforts
The litter is expected to move into other breeding or reintroduction programmes by late summer or early fall, when the webcam will go offline.
Black-footed ferrets were presumed to be extinct until 1981, when the last colony was discovered near Meeteetse, Wyoming.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Wyoming Game Department brought 18 black-footed ferrets into human care, and through dedicated conservation efforts, the species has made an incredible comeback in recent decades.
The Smithsonian has played a key role in a cooperative breeding programme for the animals, with more than 1,252 kits bred at the National Zoo’s conservation science facility since 1989, and over 750 ferrets reintroduced to their natural habitats in the western US.
“We have done a lot of work in terms of breeding and bringing them back from the brink of extinction,” Brandie Smith, the National Zoo’s director, told blooloop in 2022.
In more news, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute recently announced a partnership with Saudi Arabia’s AlUla to protect critically endangered Arabian leopards.
Images courtesy of the Smithsonian
