Becki

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

This #dungeonsanddragons themed #tarotdeck creates a world where the monsters live freely in happy gardens. Lovely concept!! 93% funded and six days to go. SO close!! Help them out please please please! 😭🥺

on @Kickstarter https://t.co/gJxLVeZS6T

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@CrJ74221556 Lol you’re being sarcastic, hopefully? Everyone is still showing the expected trajectory as if it were still up, but all are saying it is probably down now. They’re still watching/tracking just in case.

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@The_Eagle18 @GimpMskNGagBall @CNN Besides, plague is not a new disease. It has been around for centuries. The animals who evolved with it (species in Europe) have some resistance. N.American species have not had centuries of evolution alongside plague to help them develop resistance, because it was introduced.

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@The_Eagle18 @GimpMskNGagBall @CNN People are not immune to plague. It’s a bacteria. The people who survived did so because they never got infected. lol. People have a better chance of surviving plague today with use of antibiotics, but no one is immune.

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@CCEEZZTV @amborgen Huh?

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@Jebbo101 Unfortunately yes, ranchers kill PDs. But state and federal lands have lots of PDs, and that’s where many BFFs are released. There are also awesome programs and partnerships between landowners and USFWS to keep PDs on certain properties. :)

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@gameofpixelsX @shemakesitwork @CNN Also, BFFs are solitary animals and separate from mom when they are 90 days old. The clone is almost an adult and will want to be alone very soon! :)

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@gameofpixelsX @shemakesitwork @CNN It’s true the clone has a domestic ferret for a parent. (But domestic ferrets are ferocious predators and are capable of hunting too.) But all other bffs at the center are raised by their mothers and are taught to hunt, how to live in burrows, etc by their mothers.

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@amborgen I honestly don’t know what “test tube baby” entails and if she still counts or not, but this ferret grew in the womb of her surrogate mother. She is also very nearly an adult already (bffs are considered to be full grown at 90 days of age), so she seems to be doing well! :)

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@shemakesitwork @CNN This is one of the animals which lives at the center. Looks pretty happy to me.

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@shemakesitwork @CNN But it’s not a lab. It’s a conservation center which houses and cares for all the animals. The animals are not tested on or anything. There are even outdoor pens located right in the middle of their natural habitat that the bffs sometimes get to live in.

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@Lordach_ Plague is widespread in the N.American prairie and routinely sweeps through and kills all the wildlife. Biologists are working hard to eradicate a disease that was never meant to be here (it came from Europe), but the going has been tough.

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@shemakesitwork @CNN She’s not living in a lab :)

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@GimpMskNGagBall @CNN We’re not “bringing them back.” Black footed ferrets were never gone. There are several healthy wild populations today. The only reason they’re still endangered is sylvatic plague (non-native disease) keeps killing all the animals on the N.American prairie.

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@ConradO00051483 @NBCNews Did you read the article? All bffs alive today came from only 18 bffs. They have no genetic variability left. They cloned an animal which lived decades ago that never had babies (so her genetics were lost). Now her genes are back and will help the species from being too inbred.

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@shayelli1973 Fun fact: Mammals are only animal type that doesn’t have a species which can clone itself. Reptiles, birds, insects, arthropods, etc all have a species or two which literally can clone itself and reproduce without mating. It’s a natural process found in the wild: parthenogenesis

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@amborgen How does she look unhealthy? She looks exactly like every other black footed ferret baby EVER. 😂 She is 100% healthy.

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@jpatrickmedia @nytimes This was the first try

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@parasitophilia It does! They cloned a bff that lived decades ago and never had any babies (therefore her genes were lost to the population).

[Becki @LifeIsQuirky21]

@803d3d4b2fa0431 But the bald eagle still had tons of genetic variability in its population. All BFFs alive today came from an original nine ferrets. They have lost much of their original genetic variability and cloning old DNA from an original ferret brought those genes back i to the gene pool!