Black-footed ferret

The Black-Foot Ferret is an endangered species of mustelid belonging to central Northern America. It is the only native ferret in North America. Initiative to revive these species began in 1981 through a captive breeding programme. However, only 7 of the original wild animals were bred and all the living species are closely related. This limits these species’ genetic diversity and disease resistance. Therefore, frozen cells of dead black-footed ferret were used to create a genetic copy.