Ferrets and the Plague

We once thought that black-footed ferrrets were extict, but when a few specimens were later found, the rush was on to bring them back from the brink, which included breeding them in captivity. Releasing these kitten snakes into the wild is dangerous, though, because they eat prairie dogs, which have fleas, which carry plague. The evolution of the plague bacteria went through some real changes in order to become as virulent as it is, involving flea anatomy, and then follows a disgusting chain of infection that can give us all bubonic plague. In this video, Ze Frank takes us from a Yersinia pestis bacterium named Patricia through a chain of critters that aren't named, up to a black-footed ferret named Kenny. There are ways that people are trying to protect the ferrets from the plague that may look silly, but are important. And we have adorable ferret footage to make it all seem less grim.