Carmen has been sweetly kind and has so far provided me with further
information on one of the ferrets whose owners told her that they were of
very advanced ages.  The additional things she heard call the claim of 18
years very much into question.  The owner said that the ferret had been
obtained as an adult and had been bred every year till this year when she
is being given a break.  I suspect that he was was told an incorrect age
when he obtained the ferret as an adult, or perhaps the first owner gave
the age in months but the second owner thought that years were meant.  I
imagine a possibility like:
 
"What age is she?"
 
"13." [Meaning 13 months, but then the new person assumes it means years
and counts from there...]
 
Here is PART of a reply that I got from an expert showing why it is pretty
well impossible to imagine that anyone has been breeding a ferret at
extremely advanced ages:
 
>[Domestic animals] don't usually go through menopause like humans, so
>they >continue to produce hormones throughout life.  However, eggs due
>tend to become exhausted, follicles become atretic, etc.  Remember that
>you are born with a certain number of progametes, and over a lifetime, a
>certain develop into follicles and eggs, and many more become senescent.
>Eggs are not immortal.
 
Carmen let me know that actual records on ferrets there are rare, so I
don't know if she'll be able to locate anything in relation to the one
whose owner claimed 16 years, but I sure do appreciate her efforts to
learn more.  I keep hoping for breeders and ferret groups to start keeping
age and health records from kithood (not starting at older ages to avoid
guesstimates); anyone have any ideas how many or how few actually have
started such record-keeping anywhere in the world?
 
I have been informally tracing down claims of extreme old age since before
the FML began, and I have run into only one person who actually lied.  That
person was a breeder many years ago who was interested in increased profit
and the individual also completely stiffed some folks (including us to
the tune of $400) by never providing ferrets promised.  For the reason that
no one else out-and-out lied, but the ones who were wrong only wanted to
believe ages that didn't pan out when records were checked I have to so far
expect that it's just the typical case of something causing confusion and
then the report being repeated.  that is norm for extreme old age reports.
 
So far the oldest ferret with actual records that I have heard about was 14
at death, and sporadic ones up to or into their 13th year have appeared all
over through the years, with 13 less common than some younger old ages.  I
have read of a decent representation for 9 and 10, for instance, though
that is much smaller than the more common 7 or 8 years at death.  I do NOT
know if 11 or 12 year olds are less common than 13 years olds or if ones
that reach 11 or 12 then enter into a time-frame like humans with extreme
old ages do when death might be a bit less probable for a short while.
[Posted in FML issue 3400]