They tend to be good about corrections so I hope to soon see the
error in
<http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=researchers-ferret-out-reasons-for-12-03-26>
fixed.

Here is what I posted in their comments section to help protect ferrets
and also sent directly to their editors:

>Ferrets sedentary? Not during our three decades of having them in our
>family.
>
>"Non-cursorial" does not mean that ferrets are hammock potatoes for
>the same reason that a weight lifter or sprinter is athletic. Ferrets
>are not marathon types of animals. They prefer activities with sudden
>bursts of great strength, and hate anything monotonous, not a surprise
>given their lively and curious intellects. Think of them as being
>mixed muscle with a lot of white muscle like hurtle racers rather
>than red muscle like marathon runners, and for their boredom think
>of what what bores a four year old human.
>
>Having respected press like Scientific American use terms such as
>"sedentary" as you did on your website is dangerous for ferrets.
>
>There are two ways that incorrect depiction endangers ferrets.
>First, it can cause newbies to miss common ferret illnesses such as
>insulinoma and cardiomyopathy which often have lethargy as the first
>symptom. Second, it can lead them into thinking that they can leave
>ferrets cage-bound. That has two results. It is mentally unhealthy
>abuse and results in aberrant behaviors sometimes including biting.
>Plus, poor muscle mass and poor muscle tone in range of mammal studies
>result in increased rates of many illnesses and worsened vulnerability
>to accidents.
>
>What do ferrets do for exercise when given the chance? Meltdown
>carried a television remote a quarter of her weight to the top of
>our bedroom closet. Later using gravity as a friend by digging her
>claws into the bodice of a dress and ripping her way down like a
>pirate movie hero with a knife. Jumpstart, from a sitting position,
>could uncoil to jump over a barrier which was three feet high.
>A professional volleyball friend would have loved to manage a
>proportional plyometric feat. Orville daily moves 2 dozen toys,
>some weighing more than he does. Warp would appear on the opposite
>side of the room from where you had just seen her, ditto Wizbang.
>
>White muscle exercise also has emotional rewards, as do mixed muscle
>exercises like hurtle racing.
>
>Scientifically, it made sense to look at the runner's highs enjoyed by
>people like our ultra-marathon champ niece, but it does not make sense
>for anyone, including the university publicity site and Scientific
>American, to assume that those who prefer other forms of exercise are
>not athletic, and perhaps the next step would be for the researchers
>to try to understand the pleasure felt by those who engage in more
>plyometric forms of activity.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html

"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
On change for its own sake: "You can go really fast if you just jump
off the cliff." (2010, Steve Crandall)

[Posted in FML 7378]