Even that "qualifier" by the folks who did the article in The Economist
is kind of amusing.

I take my ferret Fred out for walks pretty regularly. Often, we go to a
neighborhood store. Of course he likes to sniff around and check things
out, because after all he is a ferret. But the rest of the time, he
likes to run! If he were not on a leash I am sure he would run the
whole way. And I don't mean a lope, I mean a bounding run, all 4 feet
in the air. If his legs were not so short I am sure I would have a much
harder time of it. As it is, he still runs much of the distance and I
have sometimes had a hard time keeping up with him.

Keep in mind that it is well over a half mile each way. And after
running most of that distance (that is, a mile give or take), he often
wants to play a while before he takes the inevitable nap that follows.

Ferrets certainly are not greyhounds, but given a chance, at least
some of them do like to run. But many ferrets really do not get much
opportunity. I am sure that if aliens were examining office buildings,
they would conclude that humans are exclusively sedentary, too.

Lonny Eachus
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[Posted in FML 7395]