We've noticed and mentioned the right sided thing in our ferrets,
having thought that it was learned from Ashling who was our dominant
one and very, very markedly had a right side tail. Now we have to
wonder if there might be more to it so it would be interesting to see
this studied in ferrets, too:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/science/24wag.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
[Moderator's note: login required.  BIG]

NY Times article by Sandra Blakeslee worked from a dog study and here
are a few bits and pieces to intrigue you into reading more:

>there is another, newly discovered, feature of dog body language that
>may surprise attentive pet owners and experts in canine behavior. When
>dogs feel fundamentally positive about something or someone, their
>tails wag more to the right side of their rumps. When they have
>negative feelings, their tail wagging is biased to the left ...
>
>A study describing the phenomenon, "Asymmetric tail-wagging responses
>by dogs to different emotive stimuli," appeared in the March 20 issue
>of Current Biology. The authors are Giorgio Vallortigara, a
>neuroscientist at the University of Trieste in Italy, and two
>veterinarians, Angelo Quaranta and Marcello Siniscalchi, at the
>University of Bari, also in Italy. ...
>
>Richard J. Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective
>Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin in Madison [said that] ...
>fits with a large body of research showing emotional asymmetry in the
>brain... ...
>
>in most animals ... the left brain specializes in behaviors involving
>what the scientists call approach and energy enrichment... associated
>with positive feelings, like love, a sense of attachment, a feeling of
>safety and calm. It is also associated with physiological markers,
>like a slow heart rate.

[Remember the cross-over that has the R brain controlling the post-
cranial (beyond head) left side, and the L brain controlling the post-
cranial right side.]

 ...

>...the right brain specializes in behaviors involving withdrawal and
>energy expenditure... behaviors, like fleeing... associated with
>feelings like fear and depression. Physiological signals include a
>rapid heart rate and the shutdown of the digestive system.

Sukie (not a vet)
Current FHL address:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 5589]