Q: "Why do my ferrets have a fetish about the corners of my lips?  They
are always trying to sniff them."
 
A: Is that worse compared to where a dog likes to sniff?
 
Special glands that secrete a waxy, oily substance, designed to protect
and lubricate the skin covering the lips, surround the human mouth (lip
epithelium lacks oil glands).  These are concentrated at the corners of
the mouth.  When the ferret is homing in on the corners of your mouth,
they are probably just trying to get a whiff of your glands, which they
CAN smell.
 
Either that, or they are trying to steal a bite of that burrito you are
chewing.
 
Q: "Does breeding a ferret to a polecat give them a darker coat?"
 
A: Only if the Jill is a costly date.
 
Initially, yes, but only at the cost of the traits of domestication that
in the ferret are mostly behavioral.  Domestication delays the migration
of melanocytes within the developing embryo, and not as many migrate,
ultimately causing a dilution effect in the color of the coat.  Sable
ferrets, even those labeled 'black sables', are always lighter (browner)
in color than pure polecats (so dark some have a purplish sheen).
 
The difference isn't so much a change in genetics of the coat color as
much as it is 'fewer' melanocytes per unit area.  By hybridizing a ferret
to a polecat, you get a darker coat color, but that is because you have
reduced the overall degree of domestication, reducing the dilution
effect.  I own a 1/4 polecat, and I can tell you the difference is
amazing!  Tui comes to the sound of my voice and likes nothing better
than to sleep on me, is NOT reliable around anyone's chin, lips or nose.
If you scruff him, he WILL bite you to the bone, guaranteed.  He is more
skittish, jumps higher, moves faster, sees things better, and bites
harder than ANY other ferret I have experienced.  He hates eating with
ANY other ferret, and hides at any sudden sound.  Tui is not a ferret
that should be owned by anyone other than an experienced ferret owner
able to accept the occasional nip now and then.  Occasional?  Still,
I adore the big creep even though he once crawled inside my shirt and
"nipped" me.
 
There are lots of domesticated species that are darker than the
progenitor (black labs come to mind), but those melanistic animals have
been inbred for coat color traits, NOT bred back to wolves.  In these
cases, the traits of domestication are generally preserved, while the
genetics of coat color are being manipulated.
 
Hybridization of ferrets to polecats to improve color is, sadly, not only
self-defeating in that the offspring are unreliable as pets.  It is also
only of a short term gain in that, as the offspring are bred back to
domesticated ferrets, the dilution effect takes place and you end up with
what you were trying to improve, diluted coat color.  I don't recommend
it.
 
Bob C
[Posted in FML issue 4141]