Black-Footed Ferret (Diorama)

Historical Note

The Black-Footed Ferret diorama is located on the first floor in the Hall of Small Mammals, part of the Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals. The diorama was completed in 1962 and was restored during the Hall’s renovation project in 2011-2012. The scene depicts a black-footed ferret near a burrow during the summer at Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota. Black-footed ferrets are North America's rarest mammals. Because they prey almost entirely on prairie dogs, prairie dog declines nearly caused the ferret’s extinction. All black-footed ferret’s today, including the reintroduced population here, descended from wild ferrets bred in captivity. The prairie background was painted by Matthew Kalmenoff. The foreground artist was Raymond DeLucia. The taxidermist was James Hagenmayer. (Windows on Nature, 2006)

Topics

• AMNH Dioramas