The more I read about breeders and their ferrets, the more I'm convinced
it's time to start classifying certain ferret breeds.  Yes, already I can
hear the buzzing start.....who does she think she is?  BREEDS?
 
Yes, BREEDS.
 
A breeder consistantly produces a line of ferrets that are, let's say,
black sable, plush coated, large, stocky in build, with amazing
dispositions.  If those ferrets can be bred several generations and still
be consistant, wouldn't you agree they could be considered a breed?
 
If these ferrets, when bred into a line that is unrelated, started
improving the line and the offspring began to look like the original huge
black sables, isn't that a breed?
 
In the cat world, they have a breed called the Maine Coon....it't not a
"strain" of cat or a "line" of cat.....it's a BREED.....how did this breed
come about?  Barn cats began showing up with this amazing coat and growing
to HUGE sizes, yet almost all had lapdog personalities...owners of the
orignal cats started selectively breeding the biggest and best to OTHER
barn cats that shared a few similar qualities....till they could
consistantly produce a Maine Coon.  2 Maine Coons produce a litter of
Maine Coons....not some Coons, some shorthairs.  Same requirement for a
ferret breed.
 
I think that we at least have ONE separate ferret breed in existance
already....the angoras.  Breeders can consistantly produce them, they
retain partial characteristics when obred with regular ferrets, and they
have standard, but obvious differences.
 
Is the ferret world ready to catch up with the rat world?  The hamster
world?  The rabbit world?  The cat world?  The dog world?
 
While some of the differences in the different breeds are amazingly
drastic, and are OBVIOUSLY different, others are not.  Greyhounds, afghan
hounds, and Salukis look VERY similar....coat differences and size
differences.....but same shape head/body/legs.
 
I KNOW the differences in different lines of ferrets are super subtle...
but that hasn't stopped the cat world....Siamese, Tonkinese, Balinese.
All stemmed from similar roots...all still classified as breeds.
 
What do you think?
[Posted in FML issue 3324]