>Anon, they *are* related, close enough to breed and produce fertile young.
>About as close as dog and wolf, or housecat and bobcat.
 
>WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
>The domestic ferret is genetically incapable of producing ANY kind of
>offspring with the Black-footed Ferret...
 
Hmmm...how odd.  I knew that the Asian/European/domestics can all
interbreed, and I'd read in a Smithsonian Magazine article that the
Blackfoot can crossbreed with the Asian, so I assumed there'd be more or
less full compatibility between the BFF and our ferts.
 
Of course, I could be wrong, and I'd like to know for certain.  My
understanding is that they're keeping the BFF bloodlines as pure as possible
without blending in anything else, and that the reason Asian/Siberian
Polecats were used as fosters/playmates/trainers is that, being true wild
animals with similar instincts and hunting patterns, they would share proper
survival behavior in the BFFs.  Mix 'em with our fuzzbutts, there'd be a
rash of stolen socks in remote farms all over Wyoming at some point, etc.
 
Every domestic animal without exception has some wild cousins running around;
it doesn't hurt our cause to admit this in the case of our fuzzbutts.
[Posted in FML issue 1704]