Hi, I have posted something similar to this before, and just thought I'd
remind folks that I'm still measuring ferret life span, and still collecting
data.
 
So, if you haven't done so already, please e-mail the following information
about your ferret(s) :
   1) if living, age at present; if deceased, age at death;
   2) coloration - sable, albino, silver, etc.
   3) sex
   4) country and region
   5) if deceased,identify apparent cause of death; if living
      please express my 'duhk!'s to them, but also please
      identify any diagnosed health complications.
Incidentally, I'm finding that it is easier to tag data if I have the pet's
name.  And don't be afraid to include any info you think might be relevent
(breeding origin, etc).  It is best to describe each pet on one line -
here's my best friends :
 
 Dakota, sable male, living, age 2.5, MF, GA, USA, healthy
 Gilligan, albino male, living, age 3.5, MF, GA, USA, healthy
 Guiniviere, albino female, living, age 8, unknown, GA, USA, tumor-removed
 Mythreal, silver, female, deceased, 7 yrs, unknown, GA, USA, insulinoma
 Sly, sable, male, deceased, 7 yrs, unknown, GA, USA, stomach tumor
 
It'd sure be nice to get honest data about 100,000 to 250,000 ferrets...
so far I have only gotten reports on 200 or so, and it is possible (I can't
analyze this right now) that I might be able to arrive at a useful
qualification of how long ferrets live based on as little as 350.
 
The reader is also probably wondering if this is a black hole of info - it
isn't.  I will present first results in this list and in the
alt.pets.ferrets newsgroup.  I hope to make this presentation during the
month of April 1997.  At the very least I will present my methods, a mean
age of death and variance, show attrition at age, and describe whatever
computations are involved.  If there are enough samples, perhaps it would
also be useful to show any trends related to sex or color, or any other
factor that is documented.
 
A.
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[Posted in FML issue 1829]