Black-Footed Ferret Webcam Launches on National Zoo Website

Viewers can watch a litter of black-footed ferrets and their mother, 2-year-old Aristides, on a temporary live webcam.

Want to add some adorable, endangered baby animals to your day?

Check out the Black-Footed Ferret Cam, a temporary live webcam hosted by the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute on its website.

The webcam celebrates the recent arrival of eight endangered black-footed ferret kits, born May 28, 2025, to two-year-old mother Aristides. The ferret family is currently living in an off-exhibit area at the Zoo’s conservation science campus in Front Royal, Virginia.

Viewers can watch the kits grow and reach key milestones, like opening their eyes and exploring their enclosure, via the Black-Footed Ferret Cam. This webcam offers a rare glimpse into the early life of a species once classified as extinct in the wild.

Don’t wait — the webcam is only available for a limited time.  Black-footed ferret kits mature rapidly and seek independence from their mother around 90 days old. By late summer or early fall, this litter is expected to move into other breeding or reintroduction programs, and the webcam will go offline.

Thanks to dedicated conservation efforts, black-footed ferrets have made a remarkable comeback over the last few decades. The Smithsonian has played a key role in a cooperative breeding program for black-footed ferrets: over 1,252 kits have been bred at the Zoo’s conservation science facility since 1989, with over 750 ferrets reintroduced to their natural habitats in the western United States.

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Mike Bock | Read More

Mike Bock is a web content writer for the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, where he focuses on animal care, conservation science and research.