Dear fuzzball enthusiasts,
 
I learned a bit more about where to classify ferrets.  I'll make this
somewhat brief, as I am still learning about this subject.
 
Ferrets are members of the Order Carnivora, which contains about 231
species right now (this changes due to changes in taxonomy, and
perhaps a little due to extinction).  Ferrets are not members of order
Rodentia, which has about 1702 species.  Humans are members of Order
Primates.
 
According to my book, The Encyclopedia of Mammals, edited by Dr. David
MacDonald, the key feature which unites the carnivores is teeth.
Other animals may eat meat, but carnivores have teeth (and a skeletal
structure) that are particularly well suited to predation as well as
chase and killing.
 
The Carnivores all have carnassial teeth -- the sharp tips and jagged
edges of the last upper premolar and the first lower molar fit
together to provide an excellent mechanism for shearing meat.  Check
them out on your fuzzy -- the big triangular fourth upper premolar and
the first lower molar.  Other features that characterize carnivores
are a clavicle (collar bone) and wrist bones that facilitate the back
and forth motion and high shock of chase, and jaw muscles suited to
the capture and tearing up of prey.  Another interesting thing my book
said is that members of the weasel family (as well as the mongoose
family) are "occipital crunchers", in that their method of killing is
to bite the back of the head so as to smash the back of the prey's
braincase, as opposed to the dog's shake and dislocate or tear out the
throat, or the cat's prise the neck vertebrae apart.
 
As far as where to put ferrets, they are currently classed right smack
between dogs and cats, slightly on the dog side.  The order Carnivora,
from one extreme of dogs continuing to the other of cats, looks like
this:
 
                Dogs (Canidae)          wolves, dogs, jackals, coyotes,
                                        foxes, etc.
Dog             Bears (Ursidae)         polar bear, grizzly bear, etc.
Superfamily     Racoons (Procyonidae)   racoons, coatis, pandas, etc.
                Mustelids (Mustelidae)  weasels, ferrets, polecats, martens,
                                        stoats, badgers, skunks, otters, etc.
 
Cat             Viverrids (Viverridae)  mongooses, civets, meerkats
Superfamily     Hyenas (Hyenidae)       hyenas
                Cats (Felidae)          lions, tigers, cats, leaopards,
                                        jaguars, cheetahs, etc.
 
So, the next time someone asks me if these cuties I'm walking are are
racoons or mongooses, I'll say, "No, but that's very close, as those
families fall taxonomically on either side of the ferret's family."
 
Todd Cromwell
Dors (the hunter of small plastic bottles) and Seldon (the hunter of dreams)
[log in to unmask]
 
[Posted in FML issue 0964]