Dear Ferret Folks-
 
I have had a wide variety of animals over the years, from pigs (smart as a
whip... ever read Goerge Orwell's Animal Farm?) to african pigmy hedgehogs
(spiny turnips with a huffy attitude.)  There is a wide variety of
intelligences among the species.  In all honesty, I wouldn't put ferrets
near the top of the list.  To the best of my knowledge, for instance, I
have never known one to learn its own name, although I have had rats that
did, and came when called.
 
Ferrets certianally are good at making trail maps in their minds, whether
they have good vision or not, they always find their way around a place
they have been before.  My girl "Don't" knew the way from the student
parking area to my classrooms by heart.  She scrambled there on her own,
I just walked behind holding the end of the leash.  (We did have to stop
wherever there was landscapers mulch so that she could dig and poop in
it.)
 
They learn directions well, they are good three dimensional problem
solvers, but as problem solvers in general?  Nope.  Well, that was my
theory, anyway.  I may have to ammend that in light of what I saw today.
 
I didn't believe my husband the first time he told me that Switch the
Kit had learned a trick.  When she wants out of her room, she stands up
against the baby gate and wags her little tail furiously.  She does it
while looking right at you, there is no doubt about it.  It is cute as
all get-out.  It gets her picked up.  I had to see it several times to
believe it wasn't a fluke.  It's not, it's a real trick.  It's a rule
in our house, if she wags the little tail you have to pick her up, so it
does get positive reinforcement.
 
I thought that was pretty cool.  What I saw today blew my mind.  My
husband had been saying that now Sabrina the Bat-Biter was wagging HER
little tail to get picked up.  I had to see it to believe it, but sure
enough, Sabrina has learned the behavior from Switch.  Who knew they could
learn from one another like that?  Not me.  Sabrina's wag is not nearly
as good as Switch's, but it's good enough to get her picked up.  It took
Sabrina maybe two months to figure out what Switch was doing to get picked
up, and then to try to emulate it.
 
Maybe they are a little smarter than I gave them credit for.  Only a
little, though.  They will eat styrofoam peanuts if given the chance,
after all.
 
Alexandra in Massachusetts
 
Switch the Kit: "Did she figute it out, yet?"
Sabrina : "Heck no. I've been trying to shake my tail in the direction
           of the cheerios for hours, she just keeps picking me up!"
Switch the Kit: "They really are stupid. Loveable, but stupid."
[Posted in FML issue 3774]