I would like to write an article for the newsletter of our local shelter on
the history of the domestic ferret. I have been trying to find documentation
on when they were first domesticated, when they were first used as companion
animals, and their phylogenetic ancestry. I have not been able to find very
satisfying published material. I would especially like to find a
phylogenetic family tree of the Mustelidae. In the material I have found
there has been reference to "fitch" ferrets in different contexts. Does this
term refer to a "breed" of ferret [one publication I read refers to them as
simply "fitch (or sable) ferrets" as if all sable ferrets are "fitch"
ferrets] , the European polecat, a hybrid between the domestic ferret and
the European polecat, a line of ferrets that have been trained to hunt
rodents and rabbits, or what? I need full bibliographic references please.
Thanks much!
[Posted in FML issue 1167]