Several people dicussed ferret yawning:
 
Ferret chow judges often take advantage of the throat tickle spots for
viewing the teeth of ferrets.  A gentle tug on the throat whiskers is an
easy way to get the yawn response to - very gentle tug.
 
Dicxk Bossart wrote:
 
> I don't think that there is much more to say.  You said it all.  Handling and
> training seem to make a bigger difference in behavior and attitude toward
> humans than color of coat.  Some believe that the Red-Eyed White is the
> original color of the domestic ferret and that cross breeding with the
> European Polecat generated the sables.  IF that were the case, one might
> think that "Albino's" would be the best temperment.
 
Not sure why you doubt the albino-ferret and sable-polecat colors.  If
one where to assume that temperament had anything to do with color one
would make a mistake.  Temperament is mostly environmental - but there is
sometimes a genetic component.  Just like in dogs certain breeds have
genetic tendancies to viciousness the same breed can also be as gentle as
any other dog.  Rottweilers for example.  I've known ferrets that were
related to be meaner than other ferrets from the same breeder - the fact
that they were the same color is not a connection of the genes but the
inheritance of multiple traits from a parent.  But a mean ferret is
usually nowhere as mean as a mean dog or cat.
 
The 'albino' ferret is the original color of ferrets - the old literature
makes this clear.  The cross with polecats is a relatively recent
phenomena in the long history of ferrets as companion animals - the
continued existance of wild polecats but not wild 'albino' weasels points
to this as well.  Read the books by A.R. Harding from the early part of
this century - often still available from libraries and at least
one, "Ferret Facts and Fancies", was still in print as of last year.
 
Selena Simonetti asked:
> Is a dark color all over rare?
 
The self pattern is indeed relatively rare.  More common though than a
true dark eyed white.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 1208]