# Black Footed Ferret

An episode of [The Children's Hour](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1373480705), 4 Oct 2026, 59 min.

Audio: https://media.blubrry.com/childrenshour/ins.blubrry.com/childrenshour/TCH_BFFerrets_podcast.mp3

This week we explore a creature that used to live throughout the grasslands of the United States, the elusive black footed ferret. Once declared extinct, the highly endangered specialist predator may make a comeback in the North American prairie thanks in part to our guest, Paul Marinari, retired Senior Curator at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute at the National Zoo.

## Transcript

[0:00] They don't go in salad's like carrots. I better stop there it's the end, cause I've run out of words. The end.
[0:00] A song about ferrets is Karen Potje. That's from a CD called "Can't Help But Love
[0:01] Coming up on the Children's Hour, we're going to explore a creature that used to live throughout
[0:05] the grasslands of the United States, the elusive black-footed ferret. It was once declared extinct,
[0:11] but now this highly endangered specialist predator may make a comeback in the North American prairie,
[0:18] thanks in part to our guest, Paul Marinari. For years, he was the senior curator at the
[0:23] Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute at the National Zoo. We'll also have an introduction
[0:29] to Elizabeth Ann. A ferret cloned from cells that were frozen in 1987. This episode comes
[0:36] with a learning guide. Find it at ChildrensHour.org. Look for black-footed ferrets. The Children's
[0:41] Hour is an independent production of The Children's Hour Incorporated, a New Mexico-based nonprofit.
[0:47] We're distributed by Native Voice One, the Native American radio network. It's time for
[0:53] the Children's Hour. Kids Public Radio. What's brown and sounds like a parrot? I don't know
[1:08] what! A Ferret!
[1:14] It's time for Children's Hour. Kids' Public Radio.
[3:58] That's Terri Hendrix from an oldie but goodie called "Celebrate the Difference," her version of "A
[4:04] Place in the Choir." I'm Katie Stone. This is the Children's Hour. I'm really glad to be
[4:10] with everyone out in listener land and all of you on Zoom. Hello to the kids crew. Hello.
[4:17] And who do we have with us? Hi, it's Kodiak. Hello, it's Amadeus. Hello, it's Zen. Hi, it's
[4:27] Evan. Hello, it's Isaac. Hi, it's Ellie May. It's Corbin. Hi, It's Flo. Hi Soleil. Hi, it's Luminata.
[4:38] Sup, it's Kid. Hi, it's Genevieve. Hi, it's Soleg. Hello, it's Liam. Hi, it's Eli. Hi,
[4:46] it's Colton. Hello, it's Lily. Hi, it's Thaniel. Hi, friends, it's Melissa. You all, I am so
[4:53] excited about this show. We're going to learn about black-footed ferrets. Yeah, so cute.
[5:00] Yeah, cutest thing ever. I love them. Let's hear why do you love them, Melissa. I love
[5:05] them because they're very fragile and they like to run inside little tubes. I have a friend
[5:12] that has them. Not only are they adorable, but they are one of the most critically endangered
[5:19] mammals in North America. In fact, black-footed ferrets used to number in the millions. Today,
[5:28] there's less than 1,000 in zoos and in the wild. We're going to be speaking with Dr. Paul E.
[5:35] Marinari. He is a retired senior curator at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute,
[5:41] and that's in the Washington National Zoo. And Mr. Marinari is part of a team of scientists
[5:50] who are saving black-footed ferrets from certain extinction. You're going to find out how black-footed
[5:57] ferrets were declared extinct and yet they were found surviving in Wyoming. So much to learn
[6:05] today about the elusive, beautiful, and rare black-footed ferret. This episode has a learning
[6:12] guide and activities. Find it at childrenshour.org. Look for black-footed ferret. I'm writing
[6:22] a song about ferrets. Cool. I love ferrets. There's some kind of rodent, I guess. No, they're
[6:29] mustelids. Ferrets rhyme nicely with parrots But parrots and ferrets are really quite different
[6:38] pets. Parrots are feathered and flighty and squawky and even quite talky once they have
[6:47] been taught. Parrots are furry and cuddly and nimbly and nuzzly but quiet they don't talk
[6:56] a lot. Shhh! I'm writing a song about ferrets. I could say I'm not, but I am. I could be poetic and feed them fresh carrots But that
[7:12] would be cheating, cause they prefer jam And Cheerios! Strawberry jam doesn't have all
[7:19] the vitamins carrots are noted for, but But it's yummy! I like jam! When you are writing
[7:27] a song about ferrets you don't make things up I'm writing a song about carrots. They're orange and crunchy
[7:40] and long. They aren't related to weasels, the cousins of ferrets, the subject of this silly
[7:50] song. Weasels are wiggly like ferrets, not orange like carrots, and carrots aren't feathered
[7:59] or furred. Ew, furry carrots! Ferrets are wriggly and lovable. Carrots are vegetables. Parrots
[8:07] are birds. I'm writing a song about ferrets. They shouldn't be paired up with parrots.
[8:33] You Baby." And you are listening to the Children's Hour. I am Katie Stone. Today's show is all about
[8:40] one of the most critically endangered mammals in all of North America, the black-footed ferret.
[8:48] And for those of you like me who love ferrets, who've seen people's pet ferrets, we're going
[8:54] to learn a whole lot more about ferrets. In particular, black-footed ferrets, which used
[9:00] to roam wild in New Mexico. And we're going to learn about their curious smell too. Our
[9:07] guest today is the man behind the plan to save black-footed ferrets from extinction. Paul
[9:13] Marinari is a retired senior curator at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
[9:19] That is at the National Zoo outside of Washington, DC. Welcome to the Children's Hour, Mr. Marinari.
[9:27] Thank you everybody for having me. We have a lot we want to learn about black-footed ferrets.
[9:33] And very first of all, we need to know what is a black-footed ferret. Well, a black-footed
[9:42] ferret is North America's actually only ferret species. It's a member of the Mustelidae family.
[9:49] And those are species that usually kind of have that musty smell that you were referring to
[9:54] earlier. And they're really specialist carnivores on prairie dogs. They need prairie dogs to
[10:01] survive, and they're also considered to be more active at night, which makes them a more nocturnal
[10:08] species. So a solitary nocturnal carnivore that lives in the North American prairie. They're
[10:15] very unique to North America and one member of a huge, huge ecosystem of very unique plants
[10:23] and animals that you find here in the U.S. and a little bit of Canada and a little bit of
[10:28] Mexico. Are they related to the pet ferrets that we were hearing Melissa talk about earlier?
[10:34] They definitely are. There's actually only three ferret species in the entire world. There's
[10:40] the North America's black-footed ferret, which is highly endangered. The European polecat
[10:45] is the species Melissa was referring to, and that's the animal or the species that was domesticated
[10:51] thousands of years ago that you see in pet stores. And then the closest living relative to our
[10:57] black-footed ferret is the Siberian polecat. And that species is found in parts of China
[11:04] and Russia. Are the other two species of ferrets worldwide endangered like the black-footed
[11:11] ferret? So black-footed ferrets are endangered because of loss of habitat. They are a specialist
[11:18] and they require prairie dogs and prairie dog colonies for their survival. So those colonies
[11:26] have been greatly reduced. We only have about 2 % of the historic prairie dog populations
[11:34] left in North America. It really ties in. If you lose your food base and your habitat where
[11:40] you live, you can't survive. And that prairie dog habitat has been lost for a number of different
[11:48] reasons. But the primary reason is the introduction of a disease called Sylvatic plague. that wipes
[11:55] out prairie dogs. It's a bacterial disease. It wipes out prairie dogs and black-footed
[12:01] ferrets. And it's one of our biggest obstacles we deal with in management of the species.
[12:06] Wow. There's only 2 % of the prairie dogs left. Here in New Mexico, it just seems like there's
[12:12] millions and millions of prairie dogs everywhere. There used to be billions and billions of prairie
[12:18] dogs. So now we're left with millions of prairie dogs. The black-footed ferret historic range
[12:24] used to be all across the Great Plains in 12 states here in the US, from New Mexico and
[12:30] Arizona and a little bit of northern Mexico, all the way up to Montana and Wyoming and Colorado
[12:38] and Kansas and Texas. So the range was quite large. And basically that range had shrunk
[12:46] down and you ended up with small islands where black-footed ferrets could persist. Unfortunately,
[12:52] that makes them at greater risk to different events and inbreeding and disease. So we're
[13:01] very lucky that the black-footed ferret isn't extinct. I read that black-footed ferrets were
[13:08] down to just seven families of black-footed ferrets left. Is that true? That's not entirely
[13:15] true. We were down to 18 individuals. That's how low the population went. And we believe
[13:22] of those 18 individuals, seven of them had unique genetic material. So we say that we
[13:30] have seven founders, but we were very lucky to rediscover the species and that happened
[13:35] 40 years ago. It was actually a ranch dog named Shep. He actually discovered the species. Very,
[13:42] very lucky. How did that happen? That's a great story. So was on a ranch in Wyoming and Shep
[13:50] was outside. and his owners heard him scuffling with an animal. They went out and saw this
[13:58] dead carcass. The rancher tossed it into a brush pile. And the next morning, his wife actually
[14:05] went and looked for it. She found it, brought it to a local taxidermist. And a taxidermist
[14:11] is somebody who stuffs dead animals. And that taxidermist identified it as one of the most
[14:19] endangered species on the planet, the black-footed ferret. And that's what started all of our
[14:25] conservation work with the species. We're talking with Paul Marinari. He is a retired senior
[14:32] curator at the Center for Species Survival at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
[14:38] We'll be right back with more.
[17:00] "The Black-Footed Ferret" is the Whizpops from Ranger Rick's Trail Mix Volume 1 right here on the
[17:05] Children's Hour. I'm Katie Stone. We're learning about black-footed ferrets and with us today
[17:11] is Paul Marinari. He's a retired biologist of the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation
[17:17] Biology Institute. Let's go over to Genevieve. What do black-footed ferrets eat? Black-footed
[17:25] ferrets primarily eat prairie dogs. Prairie dogs are a rodent that's found on the North
[17:31] American prairie. That makes up about 90 % of their diet. They would also eat kind of other
[17:37] small mice and some birds, but it's primarily prairie dogs that they need to persist in the
[17:44] wild. And only prairie dogs, they've just got a taste for prairie dogs. Well, there used
[17:49] to be billions and billions of prairie dogs. So black-footed ferrets, as I believe it was
[17:54] Melissa said, was talking about the domestic ferrets being really flexible and bendy. They
[18:00] do have spines, but they are very pliable animals. So the prairie dog burrow system, not only
[18:08] is a place where black-footed ferrets can get their breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but it's
[18:13] also a place where black-footed ferrets can escape from predators like coyotes and different
[18:19] raptors and badgers. So that burrow system is really critical for black-footed ferrets to
[18:25] survive. It's also below ground is kind of a constant temperature. So black-footed ferrets
[18:30] don't hibernate. So they're active year round either in the heat of Arizona and New Mexico
[18:36] or the winters in Montana and Canada. So they evolved to be a specialist on those prairie
[18:44] dogs. Yeah. We're learning about black-footed ferrets today with Paul Marinari, a retired
[18:49] senior curator at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and part of the team that
[18:54] was rescuing black-footed ferrets from certain extinction. There's a lot more coming up right
[19:00] here on The Children's Hour.
[19:08] Well hello, I am a prairie dog, a prairie dog am I. I live in the open grassy plains, beneath
[19:18] the clear blue sky. I like to eat roots, stems and leaves, wherever I can find. Although I have sharp teeth
[19:29] and claws, I'm really very kind. Yes hello, I am a prairie dog, a mammal proud and true.
[19:39] I like to put my head outside and just enjoy the view. I have to watch for snakes and wolves,
[19:48] or they can eat me up. But otherwise I'm really quite a happy prairie pup. You're listening
[19:59] to the Children's Hour, Kids Public Radio. We'll be right back. The Children's Hour is a production
[20:07] of The Children's Hour Incorporated. We're a New Mexico based non-profit organization supported
[20:12] by listeners just like you. You can learn more about us at childrenshour.org. Support for
[20:18] The Children's Hour provided by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. Learn about
[20:22] the incredible diversity of New Mexico at newmexicoculture.org. The Children's Hour is grateful to Keshet Dance
[20:29] Company and Center for the Arts. They're celebrating 30 years of impact in dance, mentorship, and
[20:35] social justice in Albuquerque and beyond. Learn more at KeshetArts.org. Teachers and parents
[20:40] listen up because all episodes are now available in Shorts. They each come with a free learning
[20:48] guide and activities that meet educational standards. Listen to the Children's Hour Shorts wherever
[20:55] you get your podcasts or at ChildrensHour.org slash Shorts.
[24:42] Prairie Riddles is Farmer Jason and Iris DeMent from a CD called Nature Jams. Before the break
[24:48] you heard the Prairie Dog song that was by Chris Scott and his second grade daughter Melody
[24:54] recorded back in 2008. You're listening to the Children's Hour and today on the show we have
[25:02] with us Paul Marinari. He's the retired senior curator at Smithsonian Conservation Biology
[25:09] Institute. And he is the man who helped devise the plan to ensure that black-footed ferrets
[25:17] do not become extinct. We have a lot more questions for you from the kids. Let's go to Airdrie.
[25:25] How many babies does black-footed ferrets usually have? Typically, a female black-footed ferret
[25:33] can give birth to an average of three kits per year. We have seen females give birth anywhere
[25:40] from one kit up to 10 kits. That's pretty rare, but the average is between three and four.
[25:47] And we see the same thing of black-footed ferrets in the wild. The ferrets' moms are really,
[25:53] really, really good moms, and they actually can accept kits from other litters. And we
[25:59] often use as a management tool what we call fostering. So we can mix and match and add
[26:06] kits from other females to a litter. We keep track of who the actual parents are, because
[26:13] that's important as we manage the population. But it just gives us a little bit more flexibility
[26:19] in mixing and matching animals, especially when we decide which animals go out for reintroduction.
[26:25] Around how long are black-footed ferrets' lifespans? Black-footed ferrets usually live in the wild
[26:33] between two and three years of age. And in our managed setting at various zoos, have had ferrets
[26:42] live to be eight or nine years of age. We tend to only keep the one to five year olds as part
[26:50] of our breeding programs. And then the older animals are often sent out as educational ambassadors
[26:55] to various zoos throughout the country. Are black-footed ferrets like domestic ferrets in that you can
[27:01] handle them and put them on your neck and they're super cute or are they bitey? They are pretty
[27:07] bitey. We intentionally don't handle or try in any way to domesticate black-footed ferrets
[27:13] because any black-footed ferret born in our breeding program has the potential to be returned
[27:20] to the wild. So we want them to do what ferrets do, which is be a specialized carnivore. When
[27:28] kits are very young, we do pick them up to shift them away from mom. About an age 50 days of
[27:35] age is when they kind of realize that they're black-footed ferrets and they don't want to
[27:39] have anything to do with us. Why do black-footed ferrets have black feet? That is a really good
[27:46] question, Soleil, and one that we really aren't completely sure about. A lot of people have
[27:53] thought that it has something to do with the way that the black-footed ferret can blend
[27:59] into the environment to make it less identifiable to different predators. Other people think
[28:07] that it's something to do with conservation of heat. So the black-footed ferrets kind of
[28:13] curl up and potentially maybe that dark fur is a little warmer, but there's still a lot
[28:21] of questions we don't understand. We are doing our best to map the entire black-footed ferret
[28:28] genome. But pretty much every black-footed ferret that we have had born does have black feet.
[28:35] Those are just a couple of possibilities. It's one of those questions that we don't have a
[28:40] definitive answer on. Are ferrets smart? Well, ferrets are as smart as they need to be. We
[28:46] have released animals that have been born in various zoos back to the wild, and they are
[28:52] pretty quick to adapt and survive back on the prairie. At most of our reintroduction sites,
[28:58] have seen successful births the next year. So we know that black-footed ferrets can really
[29:06] adjust to their surroundings. And it's not so much that they're smart, it's that they are
[29:13] designed and have evolved to do what the species does. The fact that they still exist and the
[29:20] fact that all the kids on the program today have never lived in a world without black-footed
[29:27] ferrets in the wild to really have that piece of the prairie puzzle around for future generations
[29:34] to enjoy. You talked about them being a part of a greater ecosystem or a puzzle, like you
[29:40] said. What part of the puzzle do they fit in? I think that a lot of it has to do with the
[29:46] predator-prey cycle. They are one of the primary predators of prairie dogs in the prairie ecosystem.
[29:53] Obviously, the prairie ecosystem can persist without black-footed ferrets in it. We know
[29:59] that they were extinct in the wild for four years. 1987 and 1991, there were no black-footed
[30:05] ferrets in the wild. That's when those last 18 individuals came into our breeding programs.
[30:10] Black-footed ferrets crossed over the old land bridge that used to exist between what's now
[30:15] Russia and Alaska. There was this basically sea of grass and abundance of prairie dogs
[30:20] and they specialized in that. There used to be hundreds of thousands of black-footed ferrets
[30:27] in the North American prairie. We did get down to zero and we are currently between 300 and
[30:32] 400 at our reintroduction sites. We believe we have a couple of sustainable populations,
[30:38] which means we don't have to add additional animals from our breeding centers to those
[30:44] populations. But the biggest obstacle right now is Sylvatic plague, as I mentioned, and
[30:50] that's considered an exotic disease to North America. So it is fatal to them, and it's also
[30:56] fatal to prairie dogs. How do black ferrets protect themselves? So black footed ferrets
[31:02] protect themselves primarily going down and escaping in that burrow system. They basically
[31:07] have some predators that they have to deal with, like coyotes and badgers and raptors. So it's
[31:14] really a very quick reaction time and being flexible, like you had said, that they can
[31:19] really kind of dive into those burrows and really turn around in those burrows. And we're talking
[31:25] a prairie dog burrow like about yay big. So like four inches across. Exactly. Yeah. They
[31:32] have really big canines and those are primarily used to go and suffocate prairie dogs. And
[31:39] then they consume about one prairie dog every three days. What an awful way to go if you're
[31:43] a prairie dog. You're hearing our conversation with Paul Marinari. He's the retired senior
[31:50] curator for the Center for Species Survival at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
[31:56] at the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. There's a learning guide that comes with
[32:02] this episode. Find it at childrenshour.org. Look for black-footed ferrets.
[34:50] That was Monty Harper and the Richmond Elementary fourth grade class from 2013 "Bring back the Black-footed
[34:58] Ferret. You're listening to the Children's Hour and we're talking Black-footed Ferrets today
[35:02] with a man who knows so much about them. Paul Marinari is the retired senior curator at the
[35:10] Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. And we've posted a lot of photos and links
[35:16] and a learning guide for this episode to ChildrensHour.org. Just look for the episode called Black-Footed
[35:23] Ferrets. Mr. Marinari, the program to save Black-Footed Ferrets includes cloning. Can you talk a little
[35:32] bit about that? We're doing a lot of things with black-footed ferrets to save them from
[35:36] extinction. We obviously brought in the 18 last known black-footed ferrets to start a breeding
[35:42] program in 1985 to 1987. Through natural breeding where we pair a male black-footed ferret with
[35:50] a female black-footed ferret, we have produced over 10,000 kits. We have produced over 150
[35:58] kits via assisted reproductive technique of artificial insemination. And our main goal
[36:05] is to try and capture as much of the genetic diversity that we have left in this population.
[36:11] It's considered a closed population. For genetic management, it means that there are no other
[36:18] populations of black-footed ferrets that we know of in the world that are genetically different
[36:25] than what we started with, with the Wyoming population. There was a population of ferrets
[36:31] that was found in South Dakota in the mid 1960s. That population was studied, but went locally
[36:40] extinct. Some were brought in for a breeding program. None of those animals survived. The
[36:47] last one in captivity died in 1979 and all of the wild population went extinct. So we only
[36:54] have the Wyoming population left. Not all of those animals that were brought in from Wyoming
[37:00] went on to successfully reproduce. So their lineage ended. One of those animals whose lineage
[37:08] ended, her name was Willa. She produced one kit who never produced anything and then he
[37:15] died. So Willa died in 1988. Some of her cells were sent to the Frozen Zoo in San Diego. Another
[37:24] one of those early animals that came into the breeding program was named Scarface. And Scarface
[37:31] was a really, really good breeder. He has lots of kits and he is well represented in our current
[37:38] breeding population. We collected biomaterials as we call them from Scarface and that was
[37:45] frozen and went to the cryo repository at the Smithsonian. And in 2010, we resurrected Scarface
[37:54] by artificial insemination. And those kits were very, very genetically valuable. Now we go
[38:00] back to Willa in San Diego. Those cells from Willa were the cells that were used for cloning.
[38:07] We successfully produced one surviving clone. And you may have seen her in the paper, her
[38:14] name is Elizabeth Anne, but she is in the pedigree, her mother and her father are Willa. She's
[38:21] a duplicate of Willa. So that's all research right now. We're not incorporating any cloned
[38:29] animals into our overall managed breeding population. None of the cloned individuals will be going
[38:36] out to reintroduction sites. But our overall goal is that at some point in time, we can
[38:43] incorporate the genes of Willa, which through our genetic assessment are very, very unique
[38:50] and specific, just like we did with Scarface into the population, it basically turns back
[38:57] the clock several years genetically. Is it ethical to clone black-footed ferrets? That was actually
[39:04] reviewed, and we actually had scientists do a whole investigation on whether not only if
[39:11] we have the ability to do something, should we do that? And as a collective group, it was
[39:17] decided that we would proceed with that research. And that was all under the permit process of
[39:23] the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which owns all black-footed ferrets. So everything we
[39:28] do with the ferret goes through review process. The similar things have been asked, is it
[39:35] ethical for us in the zoo community to feed black-footed ferrets live prey? Our goal is
[39:41] to produce the best possible ferret we can to survive in the wild. And we have found that
[39:47] by giving them live prey, helps with their ultimate survival. That's Paul Marinari. He's retired
[39:55] now, but he was the senior curator for the Centers for Species Survival at the Smithsonian Conservation
[40:00] Biology Institute at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. Find pictures, a learning guide, and so
[40:06] much more at ChildrensHour.org. fLook for Black-Footed Ferrets. You're listening to the Children's
[40:12] Hour Kids Public Radio. We'll be right back. The Children's Hour is making weekly learning
[40:18] guides for every episode thanks to the support of the Albuquerque Community Foundation. You
[40:24] can support this effort too. Go to childrenshour.org and click donate and find our learning guides
[40:30] under our podcast menu. Support for The Children's Hour provided by the City of Albuquerque Cultural
[40:37] Services Department and the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund. Hi, I love the Children's Hour
[40:45] because it's fun and you go to all sorts of different places. I'm Yoshi James from Australia.
[40:51] Take the Children's Hour with you on your road trip. Find us at childrenshour.org or anywhere
[40:57] you listen to podcasts.
[44:14] That was Mr. T and Friends singing about the topic of the day, black-footed ferrets. And
[44:20] over the break, you heard Pottington Bear. Today we're learning about black-footed ferrets,
[44:24] which is one of the most critically endangered species of all. And our guests spent a career
[44:32] trying to save them from extinction and succeeding. Paul Marinari was the senior curator at the
[44:38] Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute before his retirement. The kids have a few more questions
[44:44] for you. Let's go to Lily. You said that you are beginning to release the black-footed ferret
[44:49] into the wild. And I was wondering if there are laws protecting them for killings of the
[44:58] animals. It is illegal to intentionally go out and do harm to a black-footed ferret. But if
[45:05] somebody were to accidentally hit one with a car or in any other way, accidentally harm.
[45:12] the black-footed ferret, then they wouldn't be held accountable for that. What drew you
[45:20] to ferrets, working with ferrets? Like there are so many animals in the animal kingdom,
[45:24] but why did you choose specifically ferrets? I was kind of at the right place at the right
[45:30] time. I went to graduate school in Wyoming, and that's where black-footed ferrets were
[45:36] rediscovered 40 years ago. and I had the opportunity to do a research project on black-footed ferrets.
[45:44] I then had numerous jobs in different federal agencies and made really a conscious decision
[45:51] to focus and really try and become one of the world's experts on black-footed ferrets. And
[45:58] that happened to pan out. So I oversaw the large breeding facility that's overseen by the US
[46:05] Fish and Wildlife Service. and had the opportunity to return animals back to the wild. So I've
[46:10] been working with the black-footed ferret for over 30 years. It was really the sea slug that
[46:16] kind of inspired me to be a biologist when I was in third grade, because I did a report
[46:21] on sea slugs and I thought that was really cool. So everybody has kind of their own path to
[46:27] where they are. And really I just found ferrets very interesting and decided to really put
[46:34] all my effort into trying to save that species for the most part. Is there anything that we
[46:40] can do to help? That's a great question. I think just by having this conversation and learning
[46:45] about black-footed ferrets is a great way to help. Also, I recommend going to your local
[46:52] zoo or aquarium or nature center, sharing this information with your fellow classmates about
[46:59] prairie animals. It doesn't just have to be black-footed ferrets. It could be any animal
[47:04] or plant that's in trouble. Talking with your parents and if you have an apartment or a house
[47:11] or a townhouse or wherever you live, there are things that you can do to help local wildlife.
[47:17] I think those are some of the best things you can do. And then when you get a little older,
[47:21] you can go to school and then you can start studying black-footed ferrets and being experts
[47:27] in the field. Our guest is Paul Marinari. He's the retired senior curator for the Center for
[47:33] Species Survival at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute at the National Zoo. Thank
[47:38] you so much for being with us on the Children's Hour. Thank you all very much. Thank you.
[47:44] Bye. There's a lot more to learn about black-footed ferrets and you can find that in our learning
[47:49] guide posted with this episode at ChildrensHour.org. Look for black-footed ferrets. Coming up, we've
[47:55] got a recap on Black-footed ferret cloning with the Extinction Diaries. Stick with us.
[51:10] Extinction Diaries There's a new black-footed ferret on planet Earth. Her name is Elizabeth
[51:16] Anne and she is a clone, the very first one of an endangered species and she is packed
[51:20] with hope for the black-foots and the entire science of saving species from extinction.
[51:24] Elizabeth is the pride and joy of the organization Revive and Restore, whose mission is to bring
[51:30] back species from the brink of extinction. She was cloned from cells that have been frozen
[51:34] since 1988, underscoring the potential of this technology. Black-footed ferrets were thought
[51:39] to be extinct long before that, but a small population was discovered in 1981 and protected.
[51:44] However, because of the small number, all the babies bred are known as half siblings and
[51:49] vulnerable to disease. Elizabeth represents a break from that. The cloned Elizabeth hopefully
[51:54] has the genetic diversity that can be reintroduced into the black-footed population. There is
[51:58] hope and humanity must continue to fight for each and every animal of every species at this
[52:03] point. We are in the sixth great extinction. My name is Arne Oliveira and this is a Small
[52:08] World Radio Production.
[54:21] Walkin' Jim Stoltz from a CD called Web of Life. That's the Prairie Dog Song. And The Extinction
[54:29] Diaries came to us out of KFOI in Redding and Red Bluff, California. Before that, out of
[54:35] the UK, Johnny and the Raindrops with Animals in Danger. We're gonna go out with the Okie
[54:43] Dokie brothers. Thanks for listening to The Children's Hour. We'll catch you next time.
[58:01] The Children's Hour is produced by The Children's Hour Incorporated, a New Mexico non-profit.
[58:06] You can find photos, playlists, learning guides, and activities for every episode at Children'sHour.org.
[58:13] This episode of The Children's Hour was written and produced by me, Katie Stone, with production
[58:18] help from Sarah Gabrielli, Mackenzie Gronke, and Isaac Lacerda. Our learning guides are
[58:23] written by Amber Scheele. You can find this one at Children'sHour.org. Look for black-footed
[58:29] ferrets. Find our podcast wherever you listen to podcasts or go to our patreon.com slash
[58:35] The Children's Hour. Or ask your smart speaker to play The Children's Hour podcast. Our theme
[58:42] music was written by C.K. Barlow. The Children's Hour is distributed by Native Voice One, the
[58:48] Native American radio network. Thanks for listening to The Children's Hour, kids' public radio.

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