>Ferrets will kill just for the love of it. To them it is a most >wonderful enterprise." (E. Lipinski) I do not know of any small mammalian species that kill "just for the love of it". Several primate species (most notably, *Homo sapiens*) and some cetaceans have been documented killing other species with no observed benefit to their own survival (i.e., for "fun"). Ferrets, as well as most mammals and other organisms, engage in behaviors for one primary reason: survival long enough to ensure production of viable progeny. In essence, that is the biological and evolutionary purpose of an organism's existence. Ferrets do not kill for the love of it. Ferrets kill to survive. That is all. Melanie [Posted in FML 6222]