Lesson #: Ecosystems - Serengeti
NAME: _________________________________________________________
Unit Question: What Explains What Has Been
Happening to Big Animals in the Serengeti?
PERIOD: _______________________ DATE: _______________________
Black-Footed Ferret/ el Hurón de Patas Negras
Scenario:
The Black-Footed Ferret (see Figure 1) is an endangered species. Scientists call it “America’s cutest assassin”
because they have large teeth and are very effective at killing prairie dogs. A lot of people consider prairie dogs
and the burrows (see Figure 2) they construct as a problem, so protecting ferrets is a need where there are lots
of prairie dogs.
Figure 1. Black Footed Ferrets Figure 2. Prairie Dogs next to a burrow.
Scientists are trying to increase the number of Black-Footed Ferrets living in the wild at select sites in the Great
Plains shown on the map below (see Figure 3). Black Footed Ferrets have been reintroduced at more than 11
sites in North America. The scientists chose these areas because they have large populations of prairie dogs.
The prairie dogs mainly eat grasses and short shrubs that are common in the Great Plains.
These materials were developed with funding through grants from the National Science Foundation, the Gordon and Betty
Moore Foundation, Denver Public Schools to Northwestern University and the University of Colorado Boulder.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
1
