Reproduction
Black-footed ferrets
lead solitary lives except during the breeding
season or when females are caring for young. Breeding
activity generally occurs in March and April,
and after a gestation period of 41 to 43 days,
a litter of kits is born. The average litter size
is three to four young, but single kits, as well
as litters of nine or ten have been recorded.
Only the female cares for the young. The kits
are born blind and helpless, weighing only 5 to
9 grams at birth, with thin, white hair covering
their bodies. Their dark markings appear at about
3 weeks of age, and young kits begin to open their
eyes about 35 days after birth. Black-footed ferret
kits develop very rapidly and become increasingly
active after their eyes open.
Kits are about three-quarters grown by July when
they first venture above ground. Long after they
stop nursing, they depend on their mother for
meals of meat By late summer, the female leaves
her kits in separate burrows during the day and
gathers them together at night to hunt. Eventually,
the young begin to hunt alone, and by September
are usually independent and solitary. Both male
and female ferrets become sexually mature at one
year of age, and their peak reproductive period
is about three to four years. |
|
|
