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 =========== [Posted in FML 7395]