When last we tuned in to the award-winning Black-Footed Ferret program,
"As the Ferret Burrows", we saw a beautiful momma ferret and her 6 tiny
babies. We marveled at their tiny size and adorable behavior, laughed
at their antics, and chewed our nails nervously when the babies went
AWOL and momma had to drag them back into the burrow.

Now, two weeks later, in true soap opera fashion, those tiny babies
have been replaced with teenage actors! Gone are the adorable child
actors that would have provided an "Aww" element, but didn't really
advance the storylines. Instead, we have rebellious teenagers,
guaranteed to add Angst and make a mother tear her fur out!

Indeed, the "replacement" children are so big that it is difficult to
tell which is the mother and which is the child. It is only when one
ferret drags another by the scruff of it's neck that we can truly see
who is boss.

Tune in next week to see if the teenagers become model citizens or
continue to be a burden on their poor mother!

"As the Ferret Burrows" can be seen daily on the Smithsonian National
Zoo channel:
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/NorthAmerica/default.cfm

=====
(I really was surprised to see how big the babies had grown in such a
short time. They seem to grow so fast once they get started! Guess I
should have been watching this "soap" daily instead of periodically.)

Inez

[Posted in FML 6428]