Have the 'flu so I'm staying away from school and the ferrets.  I
periodically stumble to the door and drool in their general direction and
they look at me with tiny squinty brown liquid eyes.  I can blame this flu
on my dear sweet daughter Elizabeth, who had it last week.  I hate her.
 
I am *very* embarrassed to admit this, but, well, I figured out how I was
accidentally deleteing people's email to me. The server here started
accepting PPP protocals last summer, and when I upgraded to system 8 on
the Mac, it came with a cute little email program, different from my old
one. I didn't notice the preferences were set to delete messages when
read, so everytime I opened something to see who wrote it, off it went to
ether-ether land. By itself, that wouldn't be too bad because I had the
downloaded versions on the hard drive, only I tossed them when I
reconfigured the system, thinking I still had them in the mailbox. Not too
smart, I know. Sorry, I was feverish. Actually, not bad, but as a male I
like to whine when I'm icky.
 
Q: "Do ferrets get attached to you like dogs do?"
 
A: Yes, but its easy to break once they are neutered.
 
Back in the 1960s, there was a movement to bring together ethnology (study
of human behavior) with ethology (study of animal behavior).  Lots of stuff
was written, but much of it turned out to be junk.  The reason was people
were attributing *human* intent and desire to animal behavior, a process
called anthropomorphizing.  The trouble is, humans think like humans, and
dogs think like dogs.  Same with ferrets; assuming they think or behave like
dogs would be "canidomorphizing."
 
One of the things often cited as a proof of domestication is that polecats
are strict solitary territorialists compared to ferrets, which are much more
gregarious.  My grouping of 21 would seem to support this, and if you have
ever been to Troy Lynn's house, well, it's like Easter at the Vatican and
the Pope is handing out dispensations.  The difference is because a process
called juvenilization has extended the ferret's juvenile phase, so it
accepts other ferrets as siblings.  (Other parts of juvenilization include
smaller brains and jaws, and acceptance of human contact)  In other words,
like most guys, they never really mentally grow up.  Early neutering
intensifies this change in behavior.  Still, even with the juvenilization of
ferret territorial behavior, they will revert to the polecat standard under
specific circumstances, such as during the rut, or when feral.
 
The reason I am pointing this out is because dogs are domesticated wolves,
and wolves evolved as social animals, polarized from ferrets.  Accordingly,
it is unlikely their thinking, intent and behavior are *necessarily*
similar.  In other words, ferrets think like ferrets; not polecats, dogs,
cats, or people.  It is not logical to assume they would bond in the same
way to a human as a dog would, and in my experience, they don't.
 
Does that mean they are not affectionate?  Not in the slightest.  When I
come home from school and set on the floor in my living room, the ferrets
start trickling over until nearly all of them have greeted me and recieved
their "hullo" scratch.  Foster, Bear, Stella, Chrys, Tori, Sandy, Daye, and
now Carbone all seek me out and actually prefer to sleep either on me or
next to me.  Jet will run at top speed and jump into my arms.  If I am busy,
they will lay at my feet, and if I ignore them, they stand on their hind
legs and put their forefeet on my leg.  If I ignore them too long, Amber,
Sandy and Daye will give me a tiny nip.
 
Now I can't say they love me; that is a human emotion.  But I do know they
like to be around me, seek me out, and will sleep in my "spot" on the futon
when I am gone.  All come to the sound of my voice, all know their names,
and all will stop playing and come to me when I call.  I can't read their
minds, nor can I deduce their intent, so all I can say is they demonstrate
what I percieve as "ferret love," not to be confused with muskrat love.
 
The confusing thing is, behaviors tend to seem similar from species to
species, they may in fact form a kind of continuum.  However, those very
basic behaviors are also shaped by learning or other environmental events,
so it is hard to say that what a dog feels is similar to what a ferret
feels, even if the stimuli are the same.  Also, some people think no animal
has feelings, but I reject that premise because ferrets show fear, they show
desire, and they show anger, to name a few emotions.  They play, they
problem solve, and they quite literally get angry.  BUT, just because they
have ferret emotions, it does not also follow that those emotions are the
same as ours.
 
The bottom line is, don't expect ferrets to be dogs unless you don't mind
people expecting the same from you.  They are different, and how they react
with people is different.  Still, the percieved affection and closeness I
get from my ferrets is as strong or stronger than any I have recieved from
dogs.  It is just different, and people who want dog love should buy a dog
rather than expecting to get it from a ferret, and vice versa.
 
Bob C and the 21 MO Love Pups
[Posted in FML issue 2070]