One of the species that lives in the Northern Great Plains is the black-footed ferret. The black-footed ferret is also known as a Polecat or a Prairie Dog Hunter. This species is not very big and averages a length of 16 inches, a little over 1 foot. A strip of dark fur across their eyes gives them the appearance of wearing a mask. Until two months old, the baby black-footed ferret, called kits, are blind and helpless. The black-footed ferret eats squirrels, mice, and other rodents and prairie dogs Even though the black-footed ferret is a small species, they are very important to the Northern Great Plains in numerous ways. This species is extremely endangered and there are only about 370 of them out in the wild.

Grasslands have many names—prairies in North America, Asian steppes, savannahs and many more unique names. The Northern Great Plains is a vast grassland that supports many animals such as the Plains bison, black-footed ferret, pronghorn, greater sage-grouse, mountain plover, swift fox and many more animals that live in these majestic plains. The Northern Great Plains used to have an estimated size of about 730 million acres. Now it is just above half of the size: 366 million acres. The Northern Great Plains are decreasing slowly due to migration from rural areas to the United States, mostly in the Great plains states.