Two of my four ferrets, Koda and Kenai, show this kind of incredible
surge of energy at dusk when they are outdoors. When we go outside in
the late afternoon, they will be playing happily at their normal energy
level, which would seem to be about as energetic as any living being
could get, and then suddenly, as the sun begins to set, there is a
point during early twilight when it is as if a switch is flipped and
they go nuts. They start hopping and dancing and running wildly and
seem absolutely ecstatic. This can continue for over an hour as
darkness falls, whereas normally they only stay at high energy level
for 20 minutes or so at a time. I haven't seen this change when we are
in the house at this time of day. They always want to come out of their
cage and play in the early morning, too, but their totally wild time
is at dusk outside. I have no idea if this is a natural behavior or a
behavior they learned when they were cagemates at a shelter before
joining our family, but it's hilarious to watch. The other two always
clamor to come out and play in early morning and late afternoon/ early
evening, but I haven't seen that type of reaction where it looks like
their brain suddenly says, "OK, time to go crazy."

-Nancy

[Posted in FML 5550]