Mason Weinrich writes:
 
"Just a brief constructive criticism on Rudy's survey on life expectancies
(meant in good spirit, not as a criticism - so no flames).  I think it is a
luadable thing for Rudy to offer to do (not to mention a lot of work), but
I am afraid the answer would be statistically biased."
 
Not at all.  Not if the data is properly done.  What you need to do is
obtain information about when ferrets have died and how old living ferrets
are -- and you need to do this in exact terms, as far as you know.
 
So (for example), we have had three animals
 
Hob, died at 4 yrs, 2 mos.
Jill, alive at 6 yrs, 7 mos.
Jill, alive at 6 yrs, 7 mos.
 
Then, from that, you can use standard demographic/epidemiologic techniques
to arrive at a ferret life-expectancy (even by sex).
 
And I deleted the previous digest, so Rudy should feel free to contact me
for help in the mechanics of this.
___________
Sherman Dorn
Vanderbilt University
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[Posted in FML issue 1151]