I had planned to leave on my trip today, but in lifting the big ol' 4x5 I
was convinced to put it off for a couple more days.  There is no way I want
to find myself at 10,000 ft., laying on my back in the middle of nowhere,
pinned down by a 50 lb camera that my stomach muscles will not yet quite
lift.  Ok, I'm getting old....what can I say?  On all my prior Scar Treks,
I was able to lift heavy stuff a couple weeks after surgery.  I'll leave
Wed. instead, and will still make all the stops I have promised.  This
gives a few people the ability to still ask me to stop for a visit or talk.
 
Q: "You wrote that interspecies fighting is typically life-or-death for
ferrets, basically a predator/prey relationship of one sort or another....
But I'm wondering: would this usually be more the case with large groups of
ferrets...who are maybe not often exposed to other household animals?"
 
A: Is THIS what makes boys into football players?
 
You are, of course, correct in noticing your ferret is play fighting with
other species.  However, such occurrences are typically the result of human
mediated conditioning, not because of some inherent instinct or behavior of
the ferret.  In other words, the two species play together because they
have either been conditioned to "see" each other as 'the same" (NOT the
same species; no way.  Regardless of conditioning, species STILL recognize
their own species as such), they have had their flight zone reduced to
zero, or , see each other as a "non-threat." Potential predators outside
flight zones may be watched, but only when they enter the zone will the
prey attempt escape.  When the flight zone becomes zero, the prey never
attempts escape.  This is a problem in islands or areas where prey species
have never been subjected to specific predation and do not recognize the
danger.  It is also the reason why the CaCaland Farting Gestapo and
Cephalic Sadism Society proves their inability to think; prey species in
California are already adapted to ferret-like predators (mink, weasels,
even kit fox), so even if ferrets ARE introduced into the wild, the impact
would be minimal.  Also, if a ferret has a personal flight zone of zero (as
many do--a trait of domestication), it makes it difficult to escape the
coyotes, mink, weasels and other predators which abound in the state and
would not see each other as "the same.  " Ferrets, like polecats and
black-footed ferrets, have to LEARN how to escape predators, which includes
learning which ones can get you.
 
I do think that in those instances where a ferret is conditioned to see
another animal as "the same," it will initiate play fighting and even some
dominance fighting as if the other species were another ferret.  I think
they will even initiate play fighting if they see another animal as
"non-threatening," but probably will not attempt dominance fighting.  So,
you are correct that exposure and conditioning will shift a "potential
predator" into the category of "potential plaything." However, that doesn't
change the initial post; even if a ferret sees a cat as "the same" as
itself, it would STILL react with flight or fight if it perceived itself
in danger.  So, while some ferrets may include the odd bipedal or gigantic
nonmusteliform animal in their familial lineage, it doesn't change their
typical reactions to interspecies fighting.
 
Bob C and 16' Mo'  Anthropomorphic Animals
[Posted in FML issue 2981]