Ferret

Ferret ( polecat jill with color shock)

The ferret (Mustela putorius furo ) (also Frett furet of French, spätlat. Furetus to Latin for thief = ) the domesticated pet form of Mustela - subgenus Putorius is ( polecats ). It comes from a high probability by the European polecat or polecat (Mustela putorius ). Other assumptions give the steppe polecat a role in the development of the ferret. A lexicon from the 19th century states that " the ferret is found wild only in northern Africa, from where it came to Spain and then to Italy and has spread across Europe. "

Appearance

The male animal ( dog ) has a body length of 48-80 cm, 13-19 cm attributable to the tail. In the female animal ( vixen ), the body length is 42-60 cm, this accounts for about 11 to 14 cm on the tail. The males can reach a weight of 800 to well over 2000 g vixens approximately 600 to 1000 g heavy. The female remains significantly smaller than the male. The difference between the summer and winter weight may be 1/3 of their total weight, which reduces the weight differences with age.

The coat color of the animals is predominantly whitish- yellow. The different shades of the individual animals are cultivated forms, including those that correspond to the colors of the wild type, also an albino form.

Ferrets are about six to eight years old, in rare cases older. As a leading cause of death occur tumors, for example in the adrenal gland, as insulinoma or to other organs. The reason is wanted for one in the uncontrolled breeding, in the unusual colors are often more important than the health of the animals, on the other hand seem to changed circumstances ( inner housing, feeding, castration) to do its part. How can studies in the U.S. suggest that adrenal tumors prone to occur with animals from inner attitude, experience a irregular and therefore unnatural light cycle.

Nutrition

Ferrets are carnivores who occupy a special position within the Carnivorenfamilie by their anatomical peculiarities of the gastrointestinal tract. Ferrets missing the cecum to digest cellulose-containing food, and they only have a very short colon. The colon length of the ferret is only about 5 percent of the total length of the gastrointestinal tract, for example, while in dogs and cats, the colon length is about 20 percent of the total length of the gastrointestinal tract. When ferrets ingested food passes through the entire digestive tract in three to four hours. Due to this short digestion times, the organism does not leave much time to record the split of the feed nutrients. Therefore, ferrets require a diet that consists of 80 percent from animal and only 20 percent of vegetable protein, where the demand for vegetable protein by the stomach contents of prey animals or the keeping of pets is met by the herbal ingredients contained in dry food. To avoid the possible infection with the deadly for ferrets Aujeszky's disease, no raw pork should be fed.

History

Even the Greeks knew the ferret, without himself holding these animals. Aristophanes mentioned the ferret ( ἰκτῖδας ἐνύδρως ) in the Acharnern. In the younger half of the 4th century BC, the ferret ( the ἰκτίς ) found in Aristotle mention as helpers in the hunting ferrets. Aristotle described the preference of these animals for honey and birds. In the 5th century AD, other Greek documents found in the compilations of John Stobaeus.

In the first century AD, Pliny the Elder Latinized Greek name for Ictis and handed down under the name viverra ( HN 8.218 ) the control of a rabbit plague by the Romans with the help of the ferret. Besides Ictis and viverrra we find the name furo, which is however also used for polecat and raccoon, as in the encyclopedia Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville. This root word is used for scientific nomenclature.

A detailed description of natural history only provides Thomas Cantimpré in the 13th century. In a miniature of the Queen Mary Psalter (early 14th century) a ferret hunting with female hunters come to represent.

Using this historical evidence is suspected the beginnings of domestication of Fretts in the Mediterranean from Spanish or Egyptian polecat populations 2,500 years ago.

Free-living animals

In some areas where there are plenty of small prey, and no wild polecats, ferrets are escaped and become wild animals, for example, in Sardinia, Sicily or New Zealand. The feral animals have been done in New Zealand such damage in the fauna living there that the private keeping of ferrets was banned.

However, it is not clear that it really is at the local animals to ferrets and not again be crossed hybrids, because at the same time European polecats in New Zealand were released with the ferrets. Basically, it is assumed that ferrets not build own wild populations, but mingle with at most locally based polecats. This is also an important argument against the partial ban on ferrets in some states of the USA, for example, California.

In Germany exposed ferrets have little chance of survival. Due to their short intestines they need to make every two to three hours prey in the form of a mouse or similar-sized prey. The remaining hunting instinct usually is not enough to survive.

Attitude

For hunting purposes, their original use, ferrets are now used rarely. This form of hunting is called Frettieren. The ferret hunting is allowed as any other form of hunting in Germany according to the Federal Hunting Act only with hunting license.

Today, ferrets are primarily kept as a pet, although they are suitable only partially. You need a lot of space, time and a balanced diet. Ferrets must be spayed when they are not used for breeding, since female foxes can come into the Dauerranz, whereby the hormonal balance is permanently disrupted, which can lead to premature death. Males, however, are very aggressive in part and mark their territory. In addition, un-neutered ferrets have a strong odor, which is why a flat attitude is only recommended in neutered ferrets.

Ferrets belong to pets, for a pet - document must be carried when crossing borders within the EU, and the need to have a chip implanted for identification.

Research

Ferrets are used in medical research for animal experiments, such as in laboratory experiments to the dangerous influenza A H5N1 virus and a new influenza A virus H7N7 variant, as they apply with respect to influenza as a model organism for humans.

Behavior

Ferrets sleep about 14 to 18 hours per day. Through close contact with people Ferrets can become very tame.