black-footed ferret
1
8.9
- noun
- /blækˈfʊtɪd ˈfɛrɪt/
- US
:
nutria de patas negras
- The black-footed ferret relies heavily on prairie dogs for its survival.
- endangered black-footed ferret
- black-footed ferret and California condor
- black-footed ferret—a species
Examples
-
It's not widely known that the first experimental release of captive-bred black-footed ferrets failed because several animals were killed when dirt compacted under their radio collars as they burrowed and were strangled.
Blog text (7) -
Entrepreneurs, according to one financial source, are a species rapidly going extinct as the black-footed ferret.
Blog text (34) -
A black-footed ferret, left.
Academic text (2002) -
And so when we clone now a a black footed ferret or a Schwalzsky's horse, people are going, oh, they're adorable animal.
-
The Siberian ferrets were experimental stand-ins for the endangered black-footed ferrets found in the United States.
Academic text (2003) -
The black-footed ferret is not unique; most of Earth's biodiversity exists in habitats that are sensitive to epizootic disease outbreaks and drastic shifts in human social and political structure.
Academic text (1997) -
The black-footed ferret is known for its distinctive black feet and mask.
-
Conservation efforts are underway to protect the black-footed ferret from extinction.
Synonyms
A small wild ferret with black feet that lives on grasslands and is almost extinct
Surface Forms
Morphology
black-footed + ferret
The phrase is a straightforward adjective+noun compound: 'black-footed' describes the ferret's black feet and 'ferret' names the animal, so the overall meaning (a ferret with black feet) is directly derivable from the parts. Such descriptive compounds are common cross-linguistically and follow normal compositional patterns, making the expression predictable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Black-footed ferret is named for the animal's very dark feet and the dark band across its face, which people call a 'mask', so they described it as black-footed and as a small ferret. That's why the name points to this rare prairie mammal.