REFERENCE OF THE DAY:
 
John Partridge and Michael Jordan (eds) 1995 *Husbandry Handbook for
Mustelids* Bristol/The Association of British Wild Animal Keepers.  ISBN 0
9505116 9 2.  229 pages.
 
This is a spiral-bound, notebook-sized book dedicated to the sucessful
reproduction of mustelids in general, including polecats/ferrets and skunks.
The book gives a short history of mustelids, their world status (in terms of
being threaten for extinction), a review of their natural history and
reproductive needs, and a veterinary section.  Short but sweet reference
section.
 
Interesting tidbits:
 
P.13 "Certainly the mustelid most closely associated with man is the
domestic ferret (_Mustela furo_).  It is a completely domesticated form
created by selective breeding, still of uncertain taxonomic status, sharing
cranial characteristics with both the European and steppe polecat (_M.
eversmanni) and it may possibly be derived from either, or a combination of
both."
 
P. 60 The longevity of the European polecat is given in this book as 14
years, but no reference is cited.  It is unclear if the time refers to
animals in captivity or in the wild.  I would assume the former because most
of the demographic materials I have on wild polecats indicate a life-span
that averages only 4-6 years.  Still, this is of great interest to me
because domestication generally INCREASES the lifespan of the animal rather
than shortening it; most notably by reduction of parasite load, control of
disease, elimination of predation, increase nutrition, etc.  Yet if the
longevity given (14 years) is correct, then our domestic ferrets are not
living as long as would be expected.  This could be genetic (albinism is
recessive, and breeding for it, or many other traits, often causes problems
in unrelated areas), nutritional, environmental, or a combination of these,
or any number of other factors.  Since the lifespan of ferrets in the US is
generally similar, it would be interesting to see what the lifespans are in
other countries.  Maybe we are killing for ferrets with kindness.
 
P. 169 There is a picture of a giant otter that looks remarkably like Ross
Perot.  Honest.  All it needs is a tie, and the illusion would be complete.
 
Some might say the book suffers from being too brief in its descriptions and
recommendations, but I think the goal was a general overview, which was
handled quite nicely.  I liked the book enough to buy it, but then, I have
been known to buy rotten books just so I can have them readily at hand for
reference purposes.  Unless you have a thing for mustelids, you might just
want to copy the sections on polecats.
 
In other matters, if you've been wondering why I haven't been responding to
e-mails this last week, it is because my monitor, supposedly fixed, died.  I
just recieved a free replacement, and will get caught up as soon as
possible.  Also, Elizabeth, my athletic daughter, hurt her wrist and had to
have surgery on it, so I lost a couple of days.  You might remember my phone
line problems?  They never really went away; well, they were fixed today.
Seems that when the tree took out the lines, the repair men forgot I have
three lines into the house; a regular phone, a line for the computer, and a
line for my parents (they are very ill, and the line is set up so I can type
my messages to my father).  Seems something got crossed, and it was
preventing me from logging on.  It is fixed now, so I can catch up on a
mountain of mail at home!  No more fighting the greek geeks (a local term of
endearment for frat boys) for a terminal!  I won't have to listen to young
adults loudly discussing thier boy/girlfriends or how their character was
mutulated and killed in some game.  I've died and gone to "No More Sticky
Mouse" heaven.
 
Oh yeah, I've decided that IF Crystal has a litter, the little rascals are
going to be given names like "Good Fehler" "Foopa" "Goofs" and "Boo Boo."
Any other suggestions in a like vein?
 
Mo' Bob and the 18 Pocket Weasels of Missouri (In memory of Gus)
 
"...where he studied animal husbandry until they caught him at it." Tom
Lehrer, 1960's
[Posted in FML issue 1748]