Hi,
Ferrets are members of Carnivora, rodents are members of Rodentia, and
humans are members of Primates.  At the grossest scale, ferrets are as
closely related to rodents as you and your fellow primates are!  (Insert
"BOSS JOKE" here :-0).
 
The easiest way to demostrate that ferrets are not rodents is to show off
their teeth.  Ferrets, like nearly all members of Carnivora have huge
canines, smallish incisors and rather pointy molars - just like dogs, cats,
and bears.  Rodents have enormous, highly specialized incisors that grow
throughout the life of the animal, good-sized molars, and either no canines,
or highly reduced canines.  If you have access to a true rodent (rat, mouse,
gerbil, hamster, beaver, whatever), you can easily see the difference.*
 
There are any number of other morphological differences you could point out,
but the tooth demonstration is usually sufficient when I am faced with this
question.  (My what LARGE teeth you have!)
 
Happy dooking...
 
Gwen
 
*Rabbits, which are lagomorphs (not rodents) can be used in a pinch, since
they a similar tooth structure to rodents.
 
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Gwen M. Daley
[log in to unmask]
http://www.vt.edu:10021/G/gdaley/gmd.html
Department of Geological Sciences
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0420
[Posted in FML issue 1678]