As anyone who has tried it knows, ferrets learn words very readily as
long as they are repeated a lot and the sentence structure is kept rather
simple (though over time a number grasp conditionals as in "Do this, then
that happens.")
 
They also tend to love a decent bit of music with plucked instruments
being often adored and banjos next to heaven for many.
 
This isn't any great surprise.  They are descended from animals who often
reside in purloined burrows and are active in low-light times like dawn
and dusk (crepuscular activity) and their sight is often pretty poor even
in their normal ranges.
 
Recently we have been thinking about ferrets and percussive sounds.
 
One of Ashling's favorite rappers died Saturday which is what brought up
the topic.  Most rap just doesn't do it for Steve and me but the rhythm
work in the best ones is just astonishingly intricate and sophisticated,
and that seemed to be what Lingity was listening to.  She would SO dance
for it.  Have you ever noticed how percussive ferrets are, and thought
about it?  It makes sense really.  Just like other animal sounds the
ferrets hunting burrows would need to be able to separate out sounds
filtering in from above from the other motions sounds and to understand
those motion sounds.  How many animals?  What are they doing?  Which way
are they going?  How rapidly are they moving?  Are any of them juveniles?
Are any of them lame or infirm?  When out at dawn or dusk since their
vision is poor hearing also would come greatly into play in avoiding
predators on ground or from above.
 
ALL of ours love bells, and a metal owl we have hung so they can clang it
against a metal form which normally would hold a label for that drawer.
 
They love to use the zoob tube.
 
They often love, love, love to drum, in fact, Hilbert so loves drumming
on the plastic barrier that if someone mistakes it for a desire to have
whole house romp (which does also happen) he will turn around and begin
drumming the barrier from the outside.  Usually, he is pretty repetitive
but sometimes he seems to be really playing with rhythms.
 
I have not heard of anyone actually formally studying these thing in
ferrets although certainly the topic has often enough come up in past
discussions for years here on the FML.
[Posted in FML issue 4697]