Alicia <[log in to unmask]> wrote "The board at Ferret Wise has
initiated the second books for libraries project in the hopes of furthering
education in NH.  Books for librabies 1999 will be providing 24 copies of :
_The_Ferret_Owners_Manual_ by Judy Bell."
 
Ok, this is not the Q-N-A, but I like this idea so much I just had to
mention it with lots of ferret praise!  I routinely donate extra copies of
Modern Ferret, photocopies of interesting ferret articles and veterinary
data to local vets, as well as leave them at our vet school.  Lots of
people write to me complaining that their vet is "knowledge weak" when it
comes to ferrets, and I usually reply that the cost of a couple of ferret
vet books is minor compared to other vet costs, so buy them and loan them
to their vets.  I have also proposed to several clubs that they "adopt" a
vet (or practice) and donate ferret-related information to promote the
common cause.  Buying a subscription for Modern Ferret and donating it to
local libraries would be a wonderful thing for a local club to do.  The
point here is that the donation of "knowledge" through this sort of
activity should be strongly encouraged and promoted.  My hat's off to you,
Alicia, as well as the board at Ferret Wise.  Kudos!!
 
Q:"When I see my ferret carrying a toy larger than it is or even each other
and then see my dog having trouble with things far smaller, I wonder if [my
ferret] might be stronger than [my dog] if they were both the same size.
Any thoughts?"
 
A: At the moment, my thoughts are centered around a bleached Equus
integumentary spheroid, an elongated tubular Pinaceae cellulose reaction
generator, and ectothermically treated casing-encased bovine muscle
fragments.  Oh, and lots of beer.
 
Just once I would like to see a football or basketball player lift their
entire body into a slow handstand using the strength of their arms alone.
Or hang on to a pair of rings, extend their arms so their body resembles a
cross, then SLOWLY bring the arms together as they move to a handstand.
Say what you want about ectomorphic football players and WWF playactors,
the strongest male atheletes on the planet, pound per pound, are the short
men competing in gymnastics and wrestling.  If that 5ft 4in 120 lb gymnist
suddenly grew to 6 ft 9--and kept his proportional strength--he would be a
terminator, ripping those puny ectomorphic weaklings in half with ease.
<SNAP> There just went Arnold.
 
The trick is body scaling (allometry).  As size decreases, the mass of an
animal (or person) decreases proportionally to the 3rd power of its linear
dimensions, but the cross-sectional area of muscle decreases only to the
2nd power.  In other words, the smaller an animal (or person), the more
muscle it has in proportion to its body weight.  This is because bones
are thinner, internal organs are smaller, etc.  Because mammalian muscle
fibers, regardless of species, are about equal in terms of strength--that
is, a pound of mouse muscle lifts about the same weight as a pound of lion
muscle--what determines an animal's strength is the mass of muscle compared
to the mass of the entire body.  That is why bodybuilders have to increase
muscle mass to increase strength.  Confused?  Ok, think of the strongest
mammal on the planet, the elephant, and compare it to the ferret to see
which is, pound per pound, stronger than the other.  Pay attendion and you
can use it win tavern wagers for free beers.
 
A typical male Asian elephant weighs about 6,000 kg (13,228 lbs) while a
male ferret weighs about 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs).  You would think the elephant
was 4,000 times stronger than the ferret, based on its mass.  But a male
ferret can easily carry objects it's own weight for substantial distances.
Note I said carry, not lift.  Ever see an elephant carry another elephant?
They can't even lift them.  While I cannot say with authority the exact
amount of weight elephants *can* carry (not mentioned in my meager elephant
references; they can lift teak logs, whatever they weigh), my biomechanical
math indicates it probably would not exceed 1000 kg (2,205 lbs), and would
likely be far less.  So a ferret can easily carry 100% of its body mass,
but even if an elephant could lift 1000 kg and carry it, it would still be
only be 17% of it's body mass.  So, pound per pound, the ferret is
minimumly 6 times stronger than an elephant, and probably 10 times stronger
or more.
 
Ferrets are actually *stronger* than most animals of equal body mass, such
as squirrels, because of the extra muscles they carry to support their long
neck and huge head.  Ferrets are designed (or rather the European polecat
is designed) to chase animals down burrows.  They evolved short legs so
they could run down burrows, but couldn't carry prey because they would
trip over it.  So they evolved long necks to carry the prey away from their
feet, but then needed more muscles to carry prey PLUS a long neck and head.
But more muscle makes bodies larger, so they would have trouble running
down burrows.  So now what do you do?  You grow your body longer.  Its like
a teeter-totter, where the parent moves closer to the center so the child's
weight balances out the parent's weight, except in this cause, you make the
child's side longer.  The ferret's long body is of a length and weight to
balance that long neck and big head PLUS prey weight.  The neck muscles
still have to be able to carry the weight of the head PLUS prey weight, but
without the front legs acting as a balance point, they can only add muscle
mass to do it.  So, the ferret has a huge, thick neck, which on a person
would extend directly from the ears to the shoulders, as well as a long
body to balance everything out.
 
It's this extra muscle mass (in the neck and along the back) in proportion
to the body weight which really kicks up the ferret's strength ratios,
making it proportionally one of the stronger mammals on the planet.  I
guess its a good thing the ferret is the size it is; if they were the size
of dogs, they wouldn't be *begging* for raisins....
 
Bob C and 17 Mo' Poopinators (Missing Apollo)
[Posted in FML issue 2709]