I am quite worried by a recent study which focuses on human inclination
toward exercise but which presents ferrets as a species which is
UNinclined toward being active. They have actually been referred to as
"naturally INactive". This could lead to more people too badly limiting
the ferrets' opportunities to exercise both physically and mentally,
and to sarcopenia (being under-muscled) which in more reputable studies
(and a huge number of them in multiple species) can lead to range of
health problems and vulnerabilities as well as to behavioral problems.

To
<http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/03/humans-have-evolved-to-enjoy-exercise/>
I replied:

Ferrets naturally INactive? To anyone who has had ferrets in the family
for decades (as we have) that sounds like writing one's definitions to
fit the hypothesis.

Try telling the concept of ferrets being active to Pivot who I just
stopped from climbing the minitramp sitting on its side behind my
folding elliptical machine. To me they serve for other forms of
exercise but to her they are combined tools to climb so that she can
reach the top of the file cabinet and steal one of my exercise shoes
to then hide in a far corner.

Then there is Orville who daily moves about 2 dozen toys, some weighing
more than he does from our living room to next to our bed on the other
side of our home.

Alternatively, think of Meltdown who carried a television remote
weighing about a quarter of her weight to the top of our bedroom closet
about 8 feet in the air. Of course, if she had not carried something
so noticeable up there I would not have found the other treasures with
which she defied gravity including my spare pair of eyeglasses. Later
she would use gravity as her way to descend by digging her claws into
the bodice of a dress , ripping her way down like a pirate movie hero
with a knife. That was also her technique with curtains.

Then there was Jumpstart who, from a sitting position, could uncoil
to jump over a barrier which was three feet high. A friend who is
professional volleyball player would love to manage such a plyometric
feat.

If you'd seen Warp appear on the opposite side of the room from where
you had just seen her you would understand her name, ditto Wizbang.

Of course, not all of the ferret individuals in our family were
athletic. Glueball would rather hug and kiss, but you get the idea.
Ferrets sleep often and deeply, but when they have the opportunity
instead of being too much cage-bound they are curious and athletic.

Granted, the hypothesis may still be perfectly valid, but from our
decades of experience, the concept of ferrets as an example of
"naturally inactive" is unjustified and inaccurate.

Here are links which came in later on that topic:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-03/tcob-rhm032212.php

http://uanews.org/node/45734

http://io9.com/5895654/why-did-we-evolve-to-experience-runners-high

This is a terrible piece of misinformation which could lead to people
who never should have ferrets getting them and leaving them cage bound.
BTW, the person is and anthropologist (not a biologist) in Arizona so
I have to wonder if the only ferrets he saw might have suffered from
hyperthermia (over-heating) which does slow them down considerably the
same way heat poisoning and heat stroke do to humans.

To top it off a later site tells more. Guess how they judged the
ferrets not liking to exercise. It is because they put them on
treadmills! Can you imagine many things that would be more boring to
a ferret? All of us who are used to ferrets know what ferrets do when
bored, don't we?

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 7374]