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Prairie night : black-footed ferrets and the recovery of endangered species
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Prairie night : black-footed ferrets and the recovery of endangered species

Author: Brian Miller; Richard P Reading; Steve Forrest
Publisher: Washington : Smithsonian Institution Press, ©1996.
Edition/Format:   Book : English
Summary:
Once abundant throughout the grassland prairie that stretches from Canada to Mexico, black-footed ferrets today are North America's most endangered mammal. Totally dependent upon prairie dogs for food and shelter, black-footed ferrets fell victim to their own evolutionary specialization when prairie dog colonies were targeted for eradication because they were thought to interfere with ranching. An unparalleled
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Additional Physical Format: Online version:
Miller, Brian, 1948-
Prairie night.
Washington : Smithsonian Institution Press, c1996
(OCoLC)645919823
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Brian Miller; Richard P Reading; Steve Forrest
ISBN: 1560986034 9781560986034
OCLC Number: 34894517
Description: xvii, 254 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.
Contents: Foreword / Mark R. Stanley Price --
Preface / Brian Miller, Richard P. Reading and Steve Forrest --
Introduction / Dean Biggins --
1. The Black-Footed Ferret --
2. The Rise and Decline of Black-Footed Ferrets --
3. Reproduction and Development of the Young --
4. Establishing a Home on the Range --
5. Finding Food While Avoiding Being Eaten --
6. Assessing Population Ecology of Black-Footed Ferrets --
7. Extinction in the Wild: The Light Dims --
8. Captive Breeding --
9. Back to the Wild --
10. Identifying and Evaluating Black-Footed Ferret Habitat --
11. Conserving the Prairie Dog Ecosystem --
12. Public Attitudes about Black-Footed Ferrets and Prairie Dogs --
13. Legal Dimensions of Black-Footed Ferret Recovery --
14. Organizing a Recovery Effort --
15. Defining Success and Other Dilemmas --
Epilogue --
Appendix: Taxonomic List of Wildlife Mentioned in the Text.
Responsibility: Brian Miller, Richard P. Reading, and Steve Forrest.

Abstract:

Once abundant throughout the grassland prairie that stretches from Canada to Mexico, black-footed ferrets today are North America's most endangered mammal. Totally dependent upon prairie dogs for food and shelter, black-footed ferrets fell victim to their own evolutionary specialization when prairie dog colonies were targeted for eradication because they were thought to interfere with ranching. An unparalleled campaign of poisoning, begun in the first half of this.

century, reduced prairie dogs to 2 percent of their original range. Black-footed ferrets, animals that once coexisted with hundreds of millions of prairie dogs, were thought by 1979 to be extinct. An insider's critique of endangered-species policy in action, Prairie Night combines an understanding of the biology and natural history of the black-footed ferret with a record of the often controversial decisions on how to save it. In the early 1980s, biologists discovered a.

few remaining ferrets in the wild. The authors, all of whom worked for many years on ferret recovery programs, describe the turf wars that erupted among state, federal, and private groups over whether and how to intervene. The fate of the black-footed ferret remains in question - especially as programs to poison prairie dogs continue at the government's expense. Capturing the full scope of the issue, this book reveals that it involves the survival of an ecosystem and the.

future of endangered-species policy.

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