NOTE TO READERS: Yes, I am back, so get over it. ;-)  PLEASE let's just
keep this as low-key as possible--if you want to say anything about it,
please do it off-list where it is private, personal, and, well, low key.
You don't have to say anything on the FML, and I ask that you don't.
Please.
 
Q: "I'm confused about the origin of ferrets.  Are they polecats or what?
    I saw in the archives some people think they are from Egypt, but you
    disagree.  What gives?"
 
A: My skin when the ferrets lick-lick-chomp, that's what gives.
 
Ferrets ARE polecats and a member of the subgenus Putorius (Family
Mustelidae, Subfamily Mustelinae, Genus Mustela, Subgenus Putorius,
Species Mustela furo).  That group includes the European polecat (Mustela
putorius), the steppe polecat (Mustela eversmanni) and the black-footed
ferret (Mustela nigripes).  Some add the European mink (Mustela lutreola)
to the group, but inclusion is controversial.
 
In the past, the progenitor of the domesticated ferret was considered to
be the steppe polecat, based on skull similarities.  During the 1960-70s,
when genetics were first being investigated, opinion shifted to a
European ferret progenitor, based on similar morphology of the ferret's
chromosomes.  However, in two recent investigations, one British and one
Japanese, the differences between ALL polecats are so small that a ferret
progenitor cannot be determined.  In all likelihood, so much hybridization
took place in early domestication that the ferret is a descendant of
BOTH polecats!  Since ALL polecats can interbreed and produce fertile
offspring, this scenario is likely.  Since the genetics of the
domesticated ferret are in doubt (in regards to a progenitor), we are
obligated to returned to the previous binomial.  Thus, it is proper to
STOP calling the ferret "Mustela putorius furo," and return to the
"Mustela furo" species classification.
 
As for the idea that ferrets were domesticated by Egyptians, it is a
disproved myth.  If you look at a map of the Mediterranean region, and
draw a line from the northern tip of Morocco and extend it to Turkey,
you will only find polecats north of that line (since the last ice age,
anyway).  Egyptians domesticated the cat about 5000 years ago, and a
combination of Greek, Phoenician and Roman peoples domesticated the
ferret about 2500 years ago.  If asked, I will expand this further, or
you can go to the Cincinnati show next weekend and watch my slide show.
 
Bob C and 21 Ex-Polecat Progenitors
[Posted in FML issue 3790]