Intelligence is likewise profoundly impacted by the degree of enrichment experienced by the individual, and numerous studies have shown that an early life in barren environments can produce significant reductions in overall intelligence (among other things). Play, complex surroundings, intellectual tests, problem solving, sensory stimulation, memory challenges, novelty, and even grooming can stimulate the growth of, conserve the existence of, and strengthen the interconnections of neurons within the brain structure, as well as their interconnections. Both are strongly correlated to intelligence. To better understand why ferrets are they way they are, it is extremely helpful to understand how they got here. Part of that requires knowledge of why they were domesticated in the first place. In the case of ferrets, it wasn't to go after rabbits; ferrets were probably domesticated in southern Europe, ranging from the Iberian Peninsula towards Turkey, possibly centered in the northern Greece and Macedonia regions. At the time of ferret domestication (450 BCE), rabbits were confined to the west and central portions of the Iberian Peninsula, making ferreting them in Greece (the location of the earliest possible mention of the ferret) somewhat difficult. This leaves two possibilities for the domestication of the ferret; pest control and hunting small game other than rabbits. Both possibilities are probably true. Unlike the Egyptians who had cats to control pests attacking grain stores, southern Europeans might have used the polecat for the same purpose, ultimately domesticating it in time for the writings of Aristophanes, Aesop, and Aristotle. Also, wild hamsters and sousliks (a type of ground squirrel) were dietary items of the time, and polecats may have been used to drive them from their burrows. In either case, intelligent, curious animals would have been required, not "dumbed-down" ones. Even if some breeders bred for dumbness, it is unlikely that such traits would have been preserved considering the commonality of breeding ferrets back to polecats to improve their hunting instincts. Such occurrences are common enough in the literature of the last few hundred years to make any suggestion that ferrets were dumbed-down moot; even if they were, breeding back would have reversed the trend. Birks, Davison et al, and other genetics scientists have been studying the polecat genome, and have been unable to determine the progenitor species of the ferret. This heavily supports the idea that ferrets have been repeatedly bred back to polecats. It is highly likely that the ferret is a hybrid of both the European and steppe polecats- -at least to some degree- -and a progenitor cannot be named. "Dumbing-down" also implies some sort of genetic narrowing has taken place. When you bred for any specific trait, even behavioral ones, you tend to narrow the genetic diversity of the species. If ferrets were dumbed-down to any real scale, there should be some degree of genetic narrowing, but ferrets have an extremely wide range of genetic diversity. For example, there is currently no such thing as "breeds" when it comes to ferrets. We may label them by their coat color, but such labels are arbitrary and do not define a breed, such as a St. Bernard, or a Persian. That means the single "breed" of ferret contains ALL the possible variations of the species as a whole. That is hardly indicative of a genetic narrowing. Therefore, because of the wide range of variation, the lack of a logical reason why ferrets should be dumbed-down in the first place, and the many times the species was hybridized to both wild polecats, it is highly unlikely ferrets were bred to be less intelligent. All that said there is still the very real observation that at least the average polecat is smarter than the average ferret. This is a common observation, and I believe a correct one. However, in light of the above discussions, the question is begged, "Are we observing differences of nature or of nurture?" In light of the above discussion and the lack of physically demonstrable evidence, I think it is the later. I am convinced that if ferrets were raised under the same conditions as wild polecats experience (in terms of enrichment, nurturing, mother and litter socialization, etc.), they would be just as intelligent. Bob C [Posted in FML issue 4314]