We'd like to share with you a few interesting observations concerning behavioral comparisons between black-footed ferrets and domestic ferrets (or "fuzzies" as you call them- we have a number of fuzzies ourselves). There are several common vocalizations between these two species that reflect their relatedness, though the contextual emphasis of the vocalizations and the frequency and readiness with which they are elicited differ to varying degrees. Undoubtedly, you have occaisionally heard your ferrets hiss as a threat or as a response when they themselves felt threatened. BFF's hiss in the same contexts, but do so much more readily. Also, their hisses are "sharper" and much more audible. BFF's may also make beeping vocalizations (or "dooking" to use your term) when excited or aroused. Such vocalizations range from the soft, affectionate-sounding beeping heard among a mutually receptive and accepting mating consort, to the sharper, louder, frenzied (faster paced) beeping heard in situations which are grading into an aggressive or confrontational context. It was rather rare that we heard BFF's beeping when in a solitary situation. They were certainly far, far less likely to do so than your pet ferret (as, for example, when exploring and moving around in your home). Nearly all of the beeping we heard from BFF's occurred in social contexts, including during play among littermates or a mother and her kit(s). While domestics too, beep more in social contexts, they also do a far greater amount of beeping in solitary contexts than do BFF's (in particular, BFF's don't even minutely approach in frequency the incessant beeping that an intact domestic male may do!). Of the most common classes of vocalizations produced by ferrets/polecats (hissing, beeping or dooking, and barking), BFF's and domestics differ most in their barking. In fact, there is little overlap between them in regard to barking. BFF barks carry connotations of aggression and threat. In our work, the general contexts in which we heard BFF's bark were when they felt apprehensive or threatened, or were startled. Generally speaking, their barks appeared to be more defensive, rather than offensive, in nature, with the "intent" of warding off or discouraging the source of the perceived threat by startling or scaring it. In all but a few rare instances, the kind of bark we heard given by BFF's was a distinct-sounding chattering bark (sounding like a number of single barks strung together in jackhammer fashion), that usually had a duration of about 1 1/2 to 2 seconds. Oftentimes they would give several of these chattering barks in rapid succession. Within context, BFF's readily elicited these barks, which were often interspersed with hisses. In the few rare instances noted above, BFF's gave a single bark, rather than the usual chattering bark. The contexts were the same, and in each of these cases the single bark was preceded and/or followed by chattering barks. We ourselves, have never heard domestic ferrets sound a chattering bark, though another ferret owner told us of once hearing such a bark. We have heard a few single barks from domestics, but only rarely. So, apparently domestic ferrets still retain the capacity to bark but perhaps the domestication process and captive environment have greatly subdued their tendency to do so. It is interesting that a group of 4 and 5 year old BFF's with whom we worked (these animals had lived their entire lives in cages), hardly ever barked or hissed, even when their nest boxes were opened for cleaning. (End Part 1- a few more comments on vocal. and other subjects tomorrow) [Posted in FML issue 1733]