Black-footed ferret News

Senior Scientist and Head of the Center for Species Survival at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute David Wildt has been chosen to receive the 2017 Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar Award in the Sciences.

SCBI is part of the Black-footed Ferret Recovery Program, which currently has a genomics workgroup that’s focused on better understanding the species genome and its role in breeding success.

A geriatric black-footed ferret named Capone was humanely euthanized Jan. 19 at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI). He was seven years old.

Last week saw a perfect example of how the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute saves species: Staff released black-footed ferrets—once feared to be extinct—into the wild prairie on a ranch in Colorado. Of the six ferrets released, two lived at SCBI from 2010 to 2013, where they were...