Chris,
 
I was ready to jump in on Bob's comments but I see you beat me to it.  Not
that I don't appreciate Bob's opinion, everyone's entitled to theirs and his
just happens to be different.  What I objected to was the errors and you seem
to have caught most.
 
As near as anyone can tell, the ferret was domesticated about 3000
years ago from a species of North African weasel that no longer
exists.  It appears that he original "ferrets" were red eyed whites
("albino") so should not be considered "Intentional Freaks of nature",
but are closer to the original ancestor of the Domestic Ferret.  Some
believe that the various colors of the Domestic Ferret may be a result
of cross breeding with the European Polecat or with other Mustela.
 
[I've not heard the above before about an african ferret species.  It
seems unlikely because of how readily ferrets can interbreed with
Mustela Furo.  It also seems rather unlikely that significant
populations of albino ferrets ever existed except for interference
(selection) by man.  In a population of animals, without man's
interference, albinism fades out to occasional births.  Like in humans,
tigers, grizzly bears etc.  Though I know that the Swedes are rather
confused about this...  (Sorry Urban ;-)]
 
As far as "personalities" based on color, I've had over 150 Domestic Ferrets
through our shelter, and I find that the individual personalities differ as
much from ferret to ferret within a color group as among different color
groups.
 
As far as the "cutesy attitude that  lots of pets owners in general have
dressing up their pets and taking them to see Santa Claus at the pet store at
Christmas time. " I used to think it was weird too until I got to meet one of
the people *and* his ferret who enjoyed doing this .  The ferret adored his
owner.  In fact I've never seen a closer bond between an animal of any kind
and its owner.  What's more, they both seemed to take as much pleasure in the
ferret dressing in a costume, as did the kids that got to meet them.
 
Dick B.
 
[Posted in FML issue 0964]