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The ferret (Mustela furo) is a small, domesticated species belonging to the family Mustelidae. The ferret is most likely a domesticated form of the wild European polecat (Mustela putorius), evidenced by their interfertility. Physically, ferrets resemble other mustelids because of their long, slender bodies. Including their tail, the average length of a ferret is about 50 cm (20 in); they weigh between 0.7 and 2.0 kg (1.5 and 4.4 lb); and their fur can be black, brown, white, or a mixture of those colours. The species is sexually dimorphic, with males being considerably larger than females.
Ferrets may have been domesticated since ancient times, but there is widespread disagreement because of the sparseness of written accounts and the inconsistency of those which survive. Contemporary scholarship agrees that ferrets were bred for sport, hunting rabbits in a practice known as rabbiting. In North America, the ferret has become an increasingly prominent choice of household pet, with over five million in the United States alone. The legality of ferret ownership varies by location. In New Zealand and some other countries, restrictions apply due to the damage done to native fauna by feral colonies of polecat–ferret hybrids. The ferret has also served as a fruitful research animal, contributing to research in neuroscience and infectious disease, especially influenza.
The domestic ferret is often confused with the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), a species native to North America.[1]
Etymology
The name "ferret" is derived from the Latin furittus, meaning "little thief", a likely reference to the common ferret penchant for secreting away small items.[2] In Old English (Anglo-Saxon), the animal was called mearþ. The word fyret seems to appear in Middle English in the 14th century from the Latin, with the modern spelling of "ferret" by the 16th century.[3]
The Greek word ἴκτις íktis, Latinized as ictis occurs in a play written by Aristophanes, The Acharnians, in 425 BC. Whether this was a reference to ferrets, polecats, or the similar Egyptian mongoose is uncertain.[3]
A male ferret is called a hob; a female ferret is a jill. A spayed female is a sprite, a neutered male is a gib, and a vasectomised male is known as a hoblet. Ferrets under one year old are known as kits. A group of ferrets is known as a "business",[4] or historically as a "busyness". Other purported collective nouns, including "besyness", "fesynes", "fesnyng" and "feamyng", appear in some dictionaries, but are almost certainly ghost words.[5]
Biology
Skull of a ferret
Characteristics
Ferret profile
Ferrets have a typical mustelid body-shape, being long and slender. Their average length is about 50 cm (20 in) including a 13 cm (5.1 in) tail. Their pelage has various colorations including brown, black, white or mixed. They weigh between 0.7 and 2.0 kg (1.5 and 4.4 lb) and are sexually dimorphic as the males are substantially larger than females. The average gestation period is 42 days and females may have two or three litters each year. The litter size is usually between three and seven kits which are weaned after three to six weeks and become independent at three months. They become sexually mature at approximately 6 months and the average life span is 7 to 10 years.[6][7] Ferrets are induced ovulators.[8]
Behavior
Ferrets spend 14–18 hours a day asleep and are most active around the hours of dawn and dusk, meaning they are crepuscular.[9] If they are caged, they should be taken out daily to exercise and satisfy their curiosity; they need at least an hour and a place to play.[10] Unlike their polecat ancestors, which are solitary animals, most ferrets will live happily in social groups. They are territorial, like to burrow, and prefer to sleep in an enclosed area.[11]
Like many other mustelids, ferrets have scent glands near their anus, the secretions from which are used in scent marking. Ferrets can recognize individuals from these anal gland secretions, as well as the sex of unfamiliar individuals.[12] Ferrets may also use urine marking for sex and individual recognition.[13]
As with skunks, ferrets can release their anal gland secretions when startled or scared, but the smell is much less potent and dissipates rapidly. Most pet ferrets in the US are sold descented (with the anal glands removed).[14] In many other parts of the world, including the UK and other European countries, de-scenting is considered an unnecessary mutilation.
If excited, they may perform a behavior called the "weasel war dance", characterized by frenzied sideways hops, leaps and bumping into nearby objects. Despite its common name, it is not aggressive but is a joyful invitation to play. It is often accompanied by a unique soft clucking noise, commonly referred to as "dooking".[15] When scared, ferrets will hiss; when upset, they squeak softly.[16]
Diet
Ferrets are obligate carnivores.[17] The natural diet of their wild ancestors consisted of whole small prey, including meat, organs, bones, skin, feathers and fur.[18] Ferrets have short digestive systems and a quick metabolism, so they need to eat frequently. Prepared dry foods consisting almost entirely of meat (including high-grade cat food, although specialized ferret food is increasingly available and preferable)[19] provide the most nutritional value. Some ferret owners feed pre-killed or live prey (such as mice and rabbits) to their ferrets to more closely mimic their natural diet.[20][21] Ferret digestive tracts lack a cecum and the animal is largely unable to digest plant matter.[22] Before much was known about ferret physiology, many breeders and pet stores recommended food like fruit in the ferret diet, but it is now known that such foods are inappropriate, and may in fact have negative consequences for ferret health. Ferrets imprint on their food at around six months old. This can make introducing new foods to an older ferret a challenge, and even simply changing brands of kibble may meet with resistance from a ferret that has never eaten the food as a kit. It is therefore advisable to expose young ferrets to as many different types and flavors of appropriate food as possible.[23]
Dentition
Ferret dentition
Ferrets have four types of teeth (the number includes maxillary (upper) and mandibular (lower) teeth) with a dental formula of
3.1.4.1
3.1.4.2
:
Twelve small incisor teeth (only 2–3 mm [3⁄32–1⁄8 in] long) located between the canines in the front of the mouth. These are used for grooming.
Four canines used for killing prey.
Twelve premolar teeth that the ferret uses to chew food—located at the sides of the mouth, directly behind the canines. The ferret uses these teeth to cut through flesh, using them in a scissors action to cut the meat into digestible chunks.
Six molars (two on top and four on the bottom) at the far back of the mouth are used to crush food.
Health
Male ferret
Ferrets are known to suffer from several distinct health problems. Among the most common are cancers affecting the adrenal glands, pancreas and lymphatic system.
Adrenal disease, a growth of the adrenal glands that can be either hyperplasia or cancer, is most often diagnosed by signs like unusual hair loss, increased aggression, and difficulty urinating or defecating. Treatment options include surgery to excise the affected glands, melatonin or deslorelin implants, and hormone therapy. The causes of adrenal disease speculated to include unnatural light cycles, diets based around processed ferret foods, and prepubescent neutering. It has also been suggested that there may be a hereditary component to adrenal disease.[24]
Insulinoma, a type of cancer of the islet cells of the pancreas, is the most common form of cancer in ferrets. It is most common in ferrets between the ages of 4 and 5 years old.[25]
Lymphoma is the most common malignancy in ferrets. Ferret lymphosarcoma occurs in two forms—juvenile lymphosarcoma, a fast-growing type that affects ferrets younger than two years, and adult lymphosarcoma, a slower-growing form that affects ferrets four to seven years old.[26]
Viral diseases include canine distemper, influenza and ferret systemic coronavirus.[27][28][29]
A high proportion of ferrets with white markings which form coat patterns known as a blaze, badger, or panda coat, such as a stripe extending from their face down the back of their head to their shoulder blades, or a fully white head, have a congenital deafness (partial or total) which is similar to Waardenburg syndrome in humans.[30] Ferrets without white markings, but with premature graying of the coat, are also more likely to have some deafness than ferrets with solid coat colors which do not show this trait.[31] Most albino ferrets are not deaf; if deafness does occur in an albino ferret, this may be due to an underlying white coat pattern which is obscured by the albinism.[30]
Health problems can occur in unspayed females when not being used for breeding.[32] Similar to domestic cats, ferrets can also suffer from hairballs and dental problems. Ferrets will also often chew on and swallow foreign objects which can lead to bowel obstruction.[33]
History of domestication
Women hunting rabbits with a ferret in the 14th-century Queen Mary Psalter
In common with most domestic animals, the original reason for ferrets being domesticated by human beings is uncertain, but it may have involved hunting. According to phylogenetic studies, the ferret was domesticated from the European polecat (Mustela putorius), and likely descends from a North African lineage of the species.[34] Analysis of mitochondrial DNA suggests that ferrets were domesticated around 2,500 years ago. It has been claimed that the ancient Egyptians were the first to domesticate ferrets, but as no mummified remains of a ferret have yet been found, nor any hieroglyph of a ferret, and no polecat now occurs wild in the area, that idea seems unlikely.[35] The American Society of Mammalogists classifies M. furo as a distinct species.[36]
Ferrets were probably used by the Romans for hunting.[37][38] Genghis Khan, ruler of the Mongol Empire, is recorded as using ferrets in a gigantic hunt in 1221 that aimed to purge an entire region of wild animals.[3]
Colonies of feral ferrets have established themselves in areas where there is no competition from similarly sized predators, such as in the Shetland Islands and in remote regions in New Zealand. Where ferrets coexist with polecats, hybridization is common. It has been claimed that New Zealand has the world's largest feral population of ferret–polecat hybrids.[39] In 1877, farmers in New Zealand demanded that ferrets be introduced into the country to control the rabbit population, which was also introduced by humans. Five ferrets were imported in 1879, and in 1882–1883, 32 shipments of ferrets were made from London, totaling 1,217 animals. Only 678 landed, and 198 were sent from Melbourne, Australia. On the voyage, the ferrets were mated with the European polecat, creating a number of hybrids that were capable of surviving in the wild. In 1884 and 1886, close to 4,000 ferrets and ferret hybrids, 3,099 weasels and 137 stoats were turned loose.[40] Concern was raised that these animals would eventually prey on indigenous wildlife once rabbit populations dropped, and this is exactly what happened to New Zealand's bird species which previously had had no mammalian predators.
Ferreting
Main article: Rabbiting
Muzzled ferret flushing a rat, as illustrated in Harding's Ferret Facts and Fancies (1915)
For millennia, the main use of ferrets was for hunting, or "ferreting". With their long, lean build and inquisitive nature, ferrets are very well equipped for getting down holes and chasing rodents, rabbits and moles out of their burrows. The Roman historians Pliny and Strabo record that Caesar Augustus sent "viverrae" from Libya to the Balearic Islands to control rabbit plagues there in 6 BC; it is speculated that "viverrae" could refer to ferrets, mongooses, or polecats.[3][41][42] In England, in 1390, a law was enacted restricting the use of ferrets for hunting to the relatively wealthy:
it is ordained that no manner of layman which hath not lands to the value of forty shillings a year shall from henceforth keep any greyhound or other dog to hunt, nor shall he use ferrets, nets, heys, harepipes nor cords, nor other engines for to take or destroy deer, hares, nor conies, nor other gentlemen's game, under pain of twelve months' imprisonment.[43]
Ferrets were first introduced into the American continents in the 17th century, and were used extensively from 1860 until the start of World War II to protect grain stores in the American West from rodents. They are still used for hunting in some countries, including the United Kingdom, where rabbits are considered a pest by farmers.[44] The practice is illegal in several countries where it is feared that ferrets could unbalance the ecology. In 2009 in Finland, where ferreting was previously unknown, the city of Helsinki began to use ferrets to restrict the city's rabbit population to a manageable level. Ferreting was chosen because in populated areas it is considered to be safer and less ecologically damaging than shooting the rabbits.
As pets
A ferret in a war dance jump
In the United States, ferrets were relatively rare pets until the 1980s. A government study by the California State Bird and Mammal Conservation Program estimated that by 1996 about 800,000 domestic ferrets were being kept as pets in the United States.[45]
Regulation
Australia: It is illegal to keep ferrets as pets in Queensland and the Northern Territory;[46] in the Australian Capital Territory a licence is required.[47]
Brazil: Ferrets are allowed only if they are given a microchip identification tag and sterilized.
New Zealand: It has been illegal to sell, distribute or breed ferrets in New Zealand since 2002 unless certain conditions are met.[48]
United States: Ferrets were once banned in many US states, but most of these laws were rescinded in the 1980s and 1990s as they became popular pets.
Illegal: Ferrets are illegal in California under Fish and Game Code Section 2118;[49] and the California Code of Regulations,[50] although it is not illegal for veterinarians in the state to treat ferrets kept as pets. "Ferrets are strictly prohibited as pets under Hawaii law because they are potential carriers of the rabies virus";[51] the territory of Puerto Rico has a similar law.[52] Ferrets are restricted by some municipalities, such as New York City,[52] which renewed its ban in 2015.[53][54] They are also prohibited on many military bases.[52] A permit to own a ferret is needed in other areas, including Rhode Island.[55] Illinois and Georgia do not require a permit to merely possess a ferret, but a permit is required to breed ferrets.[56][57] It was once illegal to own ferrets in Dallas, Texas,[58] but the current Dallas City Code for Animals includes regulations for the vaccination of ferrets.[59] Pet ferrets are legal in Wisconsin, however legality varies by municipality. The city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for example, classifies ferrets as a wild animal and subsequently prohibits them from being kept within the city limits. Also, an import permit from the state department of agriculture is required to bring one into the state.[60] Under common law, ferrets are deemed "wild animals" subject to strict liability for injuries they cause, but in several states statutory law has overruled the common law, deeming ferrets "domestic".[61]
Japan: In Hokkaido prefecture, ferrets must be registered with the local government.[62] In other prefectures, no restrictions apply.
Other uses
Ferrets are an important experimental animal model for human influenza,[63][64] and have been used to study the 2009 H1N1 (swine flu) virus.[65] Smith, Andrews, Laidlaw (1933) inoculated ferrets intra-nasally with human naso-pharyngeal washes, which produced a form of influenza that spread to other cage mates. The human influenza virus (Influenza type A) was transmitted from an infected ferret to a junior investigator, from whom it was subsequently re-isolated.
Ferrets have been used in many broad areas of research, such as the study of pathogenesis and treatment in a variety of human disease, these including studies into cardiovascular disease, nutrition, respiratory diseases such as SARS and human influenza, airway physiology,[66] cystic fibrosis and gastrointestinal disease.
Because they share many anatomical and physiological features with humans, ferrets are extensively used as experimental subjects in biomedical research, in fields such as virology, reproductive physiology, anatomy, endocrinology and neuroscience.[67]
In the UK, ferret racing is often a feature of rural fairs or festivals, with people placing small bets on ferrets that run set routes through pipes and wire mesh. Although financial bets are placed, the event is primarily for entertainment purposes as opposed to 'serious' betting sports such as horse or greyhound racing.[68][69]
A very small experimental study of ferrets found that a nasal spray effectively blocked the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19.[70]
Terminology and coloring
Typical ferret coloration, known as a sable or polecat-colored ferret
Most ferrets are either albinos, with white fur and pink eyes, or display the typical dark masked sable coloration of their wild polecat ancestors. In recent years fancy breeders have produced a wide variety of colors and patterns. Color refers to the color of the ferret's guard hairs, undercoat, eyes and nose; pattern refers to the concentration and distribution of color on the body, mask and nose, as well as white markings on the head or feet when present. Some national organizations, such as the American Ferret Association, have attempted to classify these variations in their showing standards.[71]
There are four basic colors. The sable (including chocolate and dark brown), albino, dark-eyed white (DEW, also known as black-eyed white or BEW) and silver. All the other colors of a ferret are variations on one of these four categories.
Waardenburg-like coloring
White or albino ferret
Ferrets with a white stripe on their face or a fully white head, primarily blazes, badgers and pandas, almost certainly carry a congenital defect which shares some similarities to Waardenburg syndrome. This causes, among other things, a cranial deformation in the womb which broadens the skull, white face markings, and also partial or total deafness. It is estimated as many as 75 percent of ferrets with these Waardenburg-like colorings are deaf.
White ferrets were favored in the Middle Ages for the ease in seeing them in thick undergrowth. Leonardo da Vinci's painting Lady with an Ermine is likely mislabelled; the animal is probably a ferret, not a stoat (for which "ermine" is an alternative name for the animal in its white winter coat). Similarly, the ermine portrait of Queen Elizabeth I shows her with her pet ferret, which has been decorated with painted-on heraldic ermine spots.
The Ferreter's Tapestry is a 15th-century tapestry from Burgundy, France, now part of the Burrell Collection housed in the Glasgow Museum and Art Galleries. It shows a group of peasants hunting rabbits with nets and white ferrets. This image was reproduced in Renaissance Dress in Italy 1400–1500, by Jacqueline Herald, Bell & Hyman.[72]
Gaston Phoebus' Book of the Hunt was written in approximately 1389 to explain how to hunt different kinds of animals, including how to use ferrets to hunt rabbits. Illustrations show how multicolored ferrets that were fitted with muzzles were used to chase rabbits out of their warrens and into waiting nets.
Import restrictions
Australia – Ferrets cannot be imported into Australia. A report drafted in August 2000 seems to be the only effort made to date to change the situation.[73]
Canada – Ferrets brought from anywhere except the US require a Permit to Import from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Animal Health Office. Ferrets from the US require only a vaccination certificate signed by a veterinarian. Ferrets under three months old are not subject to any import restrictions.[74]
European Union – As of July 2004, dogs, cats and ferrets can travel freely within the European Union under the pet passport scheme. To cross a border within the EU, ferrets require at minimum an EU PETS passport and an identification microchip (though some countries will accept a tattoo instead). Vaccinations are required; most countries require a rabies vaccine, and some require a distemper vaccine and treatment for ticks and fleas 24 to 48 hours before entry. Ferrets occasionally need to be quarantined before entering the country. PETS travel information is available from any EU veterinarian or on government websites.
New Zealand – New Zealand has banned the import of ferrets into the country.[75]
United Kingdom – The UK accepts ferrets under the EU's PETS travel scheme. Ferrets must be microchipped, vaccinated against rabies, and documented. They must be treated for ticks and tapeworms 24 to 48 hours before entry. They must also arrive via an authorized route. Ferrets arriving from outside the EU may be subject to a six-month quarantine
All my photographic images are copyright. All rights are reserved
Netherworlds by SkeletalMess
GhostWorks Texture Competition #87
Texture with thanks to Skeletal Mess
It seems to be missing in PMG. A small round; Presidents have been shot with it and not noticed, the .22 is a brilliant round for hunting rabbits or target shooting. Probably the easiest round to come across in Australia in my opinion.
After a long day at work seeing this bobcat at the park really perked me up. Usually I get a blurrier shot of the other end. This one just sat there looking at me for a couple of minutes. I don't think the bobcat was as thrilled to see me as I was to see it.
I'll spare you the story of my one encounter in the wild with an owl. It was at dusk, however, when colors are muted, and I was in my kayak listening to Bach's St. John Passion. You can find Bach's Passion on YouTube without my help.
I think that should read be very very quiet we are hunting rabbits but this isn’t the forest and there are absolute no wabbits a wound. This is a capture of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron hunting on Horsepen Bayou at low tide. It was searching for anything that got in his way. I know I watched far too many cartoons when I was growing up and my wife says I still watch too many.
DSC01804uls
Researcher Miranda Crowell is no Elmer Fudd, but she is hunting rabbits.
Well, pygmy rabbits, to be exact.
For the past 15 years, BLM wildlife biologists and graduate student researchers in southern Oregon have been attempting to learn more about the survival rate, range size and even burrow selection process for the world’s smallest rabbits.
The trick, of course, is that catching tiny rabbits is not so easy. Adult pygmy rabbits weigh a less than a pound. They are also fast and live underground.
"We used to go out and look for a pygmy rabbit, then chase it to its burrows,” said Crowell, a researcher working on her thesis at the University of Nevada.
A pygmy rabbit life span is only a few years, and almost their entire diet consists of sagebrush, so bait trapping isn’t an option. All of these factors explain why little is known about them.
For example, why do the rabbits continue to eat primarily sagebrush outside of winter, when other grasses and seeds are available?
“There are a lot of toxins in sagebrush,” Crowell explained. “There must be something in sagebrush that they need or really like.”
Researchers these days identify a pygmy burrow by its size and the nearby scat, setting traps in the middle of the night and returning immediately at dawn to check them.
By the end of July, Crowell’s team had successfully captured and tagged 50 pygmy rabbits in the area of Beaty Butte, a remote section of southeast Oregon between Steens Mountain and the community of Lakeview.
Radio collars don’t work on pygmies because they are too small, so tagging consists of inserting a grain-of-rice-sized chip into the rabbit’s neck, just like a family pet gets for tracking.
Many other measurements are gathered, too: DNA sample; weight; hind foot; and ear. The whole process takes less than five minutes.
Crowell said she hopes to return in the winter to compare the animal’s movements between seasons. In addition to BLM-managed land, research is also being collected from the nearby Sheldon-Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge and two sites in Nevada.
One of the many interesting pygmy rabbit characteristics Crowell is learning about: socialization.
“Studies in the ‘40s and ‘80s assumed they were solitary, but now we know they use each other’s burrow systems,” said Crowell.
Check back later for results from the winter ‘rabbit hunting’ efforts!
Photos and videos captured in July of 2016 by Larisa Bogardus, BLM
Highest Explore Position #187 ~ On Good Friday 10th April 2009.
Polecat ferret - British Wildlife Centre, Surrey, England - Sunday April 5th 2009.
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Well, the long 4 day Easter break starts here.....well for those in the UK anyway...Yahhh...4 days without having to get up at silly O'clock...well apart from Saturday that is...as I am spending Easter in Colchester, thus I have to be up early to avoid the bank holiday traffic...hopefully the weather will be OK...otherwise I will either be spending Easter indoors or getting wet..:(
Anyhoo....I had one of my lil Squirrel images published in a Kids book today see here ~ www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/book/3950/RHS:_Wildlife_Garden... ~ It's for the Royal Horticultural Society with all royalties from the sale of the book going towards the charitable work of the RHS...so dig deep...well, it's only £8...and for a good cause..:)
My squirrel is on page 6 for those interested..:)
OK...well, I hope everybody has an eggstra special Easter, don't eat much chocolate and have a fab time..:)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ~ A Ferret is a domestic mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur, have an average length of approximately 20 inches (51 cm) including a 5 inch (13 cm) tail, weigh about 1.5–4 pounds (0.7–2 kg), and have a natural lifespan of 7 to 10 years.
Several other small, elongated carnivorous mammals belonging to the family Mustelidae (weasels) also have the word "ferret" in their common names, including an endangered species, the Black-footed Ferret. The ferret is a very close relative of the polecat, but it is as yet unclear whether it is a domesticated form of the European Polecat, the Steppe Polecat, or some hybrid of the two.
The history of the ferret's domestication is uncertain, like that of most other domestic animals. It is very likely that ferrets have been domesticated for at least 2,500 years. They are still used for hunting rabbits in some parts of the world today, but increasingly they are being kept simply as pets.
Being so closely related to polecats, ferrets are quite easily able to hybridize with them, and this has occasionally resulted in feral colonies of ferret polecat hybrids that have been perceived to have caused damage to native fauna, perhaps most notably in New Zealand. As a result, some parts of the world have imposed restrictions on the keeping of ferrets.
History ~ Like most domestic animals, the original reason for ferrets' domestication by human beings is uncertain but it may have involved hunting. It was most likely domesticated from the European polecat (Mustela putorius), though it is also possible that ferrets are descendants of the Steppe polecat (Mustela eversmannii), or some hybridization thereof. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA suggests that ferrets were domesticated around 2,500 years ago, although what appear to be ferret remains have been dated to 1500 BC. It has been claimed that the ancient Egyptians were the first to domesticate ferrets, but as no mummified remains of a ferret have yet been found, or any hieroglyph of a ferret, and no polecat now occurs wild in the area, that idea seems unlikely.
The Greek word ictis occurs in a play written by Aristophanes, The Acharnians, in 425 BC. Whether this was actually a reference to ferrets, polecats, or the similar Egyptian Mongoose is uncertain. The name "ferret" is derived from the Latin furittus, meaning "little thief", a likely reference to the common ferret penchant for secreting away small items. Ferrets were probably used by the Romans for hunting.
Colonies of feral ferrets have established themselves in areas where there is no competition from similarly sized predators, such as in the Shetland Islands or in remote regions in New Zealand. Where ferrets coexist with polecats, hybridization is common. It has been claimed that New Zealand has the world's largest feral population of ferret-polecat hybrids. In 1877, farmers in New Zealand demanded that ferrets be introduced into the country to control the rabbit population, which was also introduced by humans. Five ferrets were imported in 1879, and in 1882-1883, 32 shipments of ferrets were made from London, totaling 1,217 animals. Only 678 landed, and 198 were sent from Melbourne, Australia. On the voyage, the ferrets were mated with the European polecat, creating a number of hybrids that were capable of surviving in the wild. In 1884 and 1886, close to 4,000 ferrets and ferret hybrids, 3,099 weasels and 137 stoats were turned loose. Concern was raised that these animals would eventually prey on indigenous wildlife once rabbit populations dropped, and this is exactly what happened to New Zealand bird species which previously had no mammalian predators.
Diet ~ Ferrets are obligate carnivores. The natural diet of their wild ancestors consisted of whole small prey, i.e., meat, organs, bones, skin, feathers, and fur. Some ferret owners feed a meat-based diet consisting of whole prey like mice and rabbits along with raw meat like chicken, beef, veal, kangaroo and wallaby. This is preferred in Europe and Australia, and becoming increasingly popular in the United States due to concern over high carbohydrate levels in some processed ferret foods.
Alternatively, there are many commercial ferret food products. Some kitten foods can also be used, so long as they provide the high protein and fat content required by the ferret's metabolism; high-quality commercial ferret foods are preferred to kitten foods by many ferret owners because the foods are geared more toward a ferret's metabolism than to a cat's. Most adult cat foods and kitten foods are unsuitable for ferrets however, because of their low protein content and high fiber. Ideally, a ferret food should contain a minimum of 32% meat based protein and 18% fat and a maximum 3% fiber. Low-quality pet foods often contain grain-based proteins, which ferrets cannot properly digest and result in lower nutrition leading to increased food intake and more waste.
Ferrets may have a fondness for sweets like raisins, bananas, peanut butter, and breakfast cereal. The high sugar content of such treats has been linked to ferret insulinoma and other diseases. Veterinarians recommend not feeding these foods to ferrets at all. Like many other carnivores, ferrets gradually lose the ability to digest lactose after they are weaned. As a result, lactose-free milk is preferred.
The ferret (Mustela furo) is a small, domesticated species belonging to the family Mustelidae. The ferret is most likely a domesticated form of the wild European polecat (Mustela putorius), evidenced by their interfertility. Physically, ferrets resemble other mustelids because of their long, slender bodies. Including their tail, the average length of a ferret is about 50 cm (20 in); they weigh between 0.7 and 2.0 kg (1.5 and 4.4 lb); and their fur can be black, brown, white, or a mixture of those colours. The species is sexually dimorphic, with males being considerably larger than females.
Ferrets may have been domesticated since ancient times, but there is widespread disagreement because of the sparseness of written accounts and the inconsistency of those which survive. Contemporary scholarship agrees that ferrets were bred for sport, hunting rabbits in a practice known as rabbiting. In North America, the ferret has become an increasingly prominent choice of household pet, with over five million in the United States alone. The legality of ferret ownership varies by location. In New Zealand and some other countries, restrictions apply due to the damage done to native fauna by feral colonies of polecat–ferret hybrids. The ferret has also served as a fruitful research animal, contributing to research in neuroscience and infectious disease, especially influenza.
The domestic ferret is often confused with the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), a species native to North America.[1]
Etymology
The name "ferret" is derived from the Latin furittus, meaning "little thief", a likely reference to the common ferret penchant for secreting away small items.[2] In Old English (Anglo-Saxon), the animal was called mearþ. The word fyret seems to appear in Middle English in the 14th century from the Latin, with the modern spelling of "ferret" by the 16th century.[3]
The Greek word ἴκτις íktis, Latinized as ictis occurs in a play written by Aristophanes, The Acharnians, in 425 BC. Whether this was a reference to ferrets, polecats, or the similar Egyptian mongoose is uncertain.[3]
A male ferret is called a hob; a female ferret is a jill. A spayed female is a sprite, a neutered male is a gib, and a vasectomised male is known as a hoblet. Ferrets under one year old are known as kits. A group of ferrets is known as a "business",[4] or historically as a "busyness". Other purported collective nouns, including "besyness", "fesynes", "fesnyng" and "feamyng", appear in some dictionaries, but are almost certainly ghost words.[5]
Biology
Skull of a ferret
Characteristics
Ferret profile
Ferrets have a typical mustelid body-shape, being long and slender. Their average length is about 50 cm (20 in) including a 13 cm (5.1 in) tail. Their pelage has various colorations including brown, black, white or mixed. They weigh between 0.7 and 2.0 kg (1.5 and 4.4 lb) and are sexually dimorphic as the males are substantially larger than females. The average gestation period is 42 days and females may have two or three litters each year. The litter size is usually between three and seven kits which are weaned after three to six weeks and become independent at three months. They become sexually mature at approximately 6 months and the average life span is 7 to 10 years.[6][7] Ferrets are induced ovulators.[8]
Behavior
Ferrets spend 14–18 hours a day asleep and are most active around the hours of dawn and dusk, meaning they are crepuscular.[9] If they are caged, they should be taken out daily to exercise and satisfy their curiosity; they need at least an hour and a place to play.[10] Unlike their polecat ancestors, which are solitary animals, most ferrets will live happily in social groups. They are territorial, like to burrow, and prefer to sleep in an enclosed area.[11]
Like many other mustelids, ferrets have scent glands near their anus, the secretions from which are used in scent marking. Ferrets can recognize individuals from these anal gland secretions, as well as the sex of unfamiliar individuals.[12] Ferrets may also use urine marking for sex and individual recognition.[13]
As with skunks, ferrets can release their anal gland secretions when startled or scared, but the smell is much less potent and dissipates rapidly. Most pet ferrets in the US are sold descented (with the anal glands removed).[14] In many other parts of the world, including the UK and other European countries, de-scenting is considered an unnecessary mutilation.
If excited, they may perform a behavior called the "weasel war dance", characterized by frenzied sideways hops, leaps and bumping into nearby objects. Despite its common name, it is not aggressive but is a joyful invitation to play. It is often accompanied by a unique soft clucking noise, commonly referred to as "dooking".[15] When scared, ferrets will hiss; when upset, they squeak softly.[16]
Diet
Ferrets are obligate carnivores.[17] The natural diet of their wild ancestors consisted of whole small prey, including meat, organs, bones, skin, feathers and fur.[18] Ferrets have short digestive systems and a quick metabolism, so they need to eat frequently. Prepared dry foods consisting almost entirely of meat (including high-grade cat food, although specialized ferret food is increasingly available and preferable)[19] provide the most nutritional value. Some ferret owners feed pre-killed or live prey (such as mice and rabbits) to their ferrets to more closely mimic their natural diet.[20][21] Ferret digestive tracts lack a cecum and the animal is largely unable to digest plant matter.[22] Before much was known about ferret physiology, many breeders and pet stores recommended food like fruit in the ferret diet, but it is now known that such foods are inappropriate, and may in fact have negative consequences for ferret health. Ferrets imprint on their food at around six months old. This can make introducing new foods to an older ferret a challenge, and even simply changing brands of kibble may meet with resistance from a ferret that has never eaten the food as a kit. It is therefore advisable to expose young ferrets to as many different types and flavors of appropriate food as possible.[23]
Dentition
Ferret dentition
Ferrets have four types of teeth (the number includes maxillary (upper) and mandibular (lower) teeth) with a dental formula of
3.1.4.1
3.1.4.2
:
Twelve small incisor teeth (only 2–3 mm [3⁄32–1⁄8 in] long) located between the canines in the front of the mouth. These are used for grooming.
Four canines used for killing prey.
Twelve premolar teeth that the ferret uses to chew food—located at the sides of the mouth, directly behind the canines. The ferret uses these teeth to cut through flesh, using them in a scissors action to cut the meat into digestible chunks.
Six molars (two on top and four on the bottom) at the far back of the mouth are used to crush food.
Health
Male ferret
Ferrets are known to suffer from several distinct health problems. Among the most common are cancers affecting the adrenal glands, pancreas and lymphatic system.
Adrenal disease, a growth of the adrenal glands that can be either hyperplasia or cancer, is most often diagnosed by signs like unusual hair loss, increased aggression, and difficulty urinating or defecating. Treatment options include surgery to excise the affected glands, melatonin or deslorelin implants, and hormone therapy. The causes of adrenal disease speculated to include unnatural light cycles, diets based around processed ferret foods, and prepubescent neutering. It has also been suggested that there may be a hereditary component to adrenal disease.[24]
Insulinoma, a type of cancer of the islet cells of the pancreas, is the most common form of cancer in ferrets. It is most common in ferrets between the ages of 4 and 5 years old.[25]
Lymphoma is the most common malignancy in ferrets. Ferret lymphosarcoma occurs in two forms—juvenile lymphosarcoma, a fast-growing type that affects ferrets younger than two years, and adult lymphosarcoma, a slower-growing form that affects ferrets four to seven years old.[26]
Viral diseases include canine distemper, influenza and ferret systemic coronavirus.[27][28][29]
A high proportion of ferrets with white markings which form coat patterns known as a blaze, badger, or panda coat, such as a stripe extending from their face down the back of their head to their shoulder blades, or a fully white head, have a congenital deafness (partial or total) which is similar to Waardenburg syndrome in humans.[30] Ferrets without white markings, but with premature graying of the coat, are also more likely to have some deafness than ferrets with solid coat colors which do not show this trait.[31] Most albino ferrets are not deaf; if deafness does occur in an albino ferret, this may be due to an underlying white coat pattern which is obscured by the albinism.[30]
Health problems can occur in unspayed females when not being used for breeding.[32] Similar to domestic cats, ferrets can also suffer from hairballs and dental problems. Ferrets will also often chew on and swallow foreign objects which can lead to bowel obstruction.[33]
History of domestication
Women hunting rabbits with a ferret in the 14th-century Queen Mary Psalter
In common with most domestic animals, the original reason for ferrets being domesticated by human beings is uncertain, but it may have involved hunting. According to phylogenetic studies, the ferret was domesticated from the European polecat (Mustela putorius), and likely descends from a North African lineage of the species.[34] Analysis of mitochondrial DNA suggests that ferrets were domesticated around 2,500 years ago. It has been claimed that the ancient Egyptians were the first to domesticate ferrets, but as no mummified remains of a ferret have yet been found, nor any hieroglyph of a ferret, and no polecat now occurs wild in the area, that idea seems unlikely.[35] The American Society of Mammalogists classifies M. furo as a distinct species.[36]
Ferrets were probably used by the Romans for hunting.[37][38] Genghis Khan, ruler of the Mongol Empire, is recorded as using ferrets in a gigantic hunt in 1221 that aimed to purge an entire region of wild animals.[3]
Colonies of feral ferrets have established themselves in areas where there is no competition from similarly sized predators, such as in the Shetland Islands and in remote regions in New Zealand. Where ferrets coexist with polecats, hybridization is common. It has been claimed that New Zealand has the world's largest feral population of ferret–polecat hybrids.[39] In 1877, farmers in New Zealand demanded that ferrets be introduced into the country to control the rabbit population, which was also introduced by humans. Five ferrets were imported in 1879, and in 1882–1883, 32 shipments of ferrets were made from London, totaling 1,217 animals. Only 678 landed, and 198 were sent from Melbourne, Australia. On the voyage, the ferrets were mated with the European polecat, creating a number of hybrids that were capable of surviving in the wild. In 1884 and 1886, close to 4,000 ferrets and ferret hybrids, 3,099 weasels and 137 stoats were turned loose.[40] Concern was raised that these animals would eventually prey on indigenous wildlife once rabbit populations dropped, and this is exactly what happened to New Zealand's bird species which previously had had no mammalian predators.
Ferreting
Main article: Rabbiting
Muzzled ferret flushing a rat, as illustrated in Harding's Ferret Facts and Fancies (1915)
For millennia, the main use of ferrets was for hunting, or "ferreting". With their long, lean build and inquisitive nature, ferrets are very well equipped for getting down holes and chasing rodents, rabbits and moles out of their burrows. The Roman historians Pliny and Strabo record that Caesar Augustus sent "viverrae" from Libya to the Balearic Islands to control rabbit plagues there in 6 BC; it is speculated that "viverrae" could refer to ferrets, mongooses, or polecats.[3][41][42] In England, in 1390, a law was enacted restricting the use of ferrets for hunting to the relatively wealthy:
it is ordained that no manner of layman which hath not lands to the value of forty shillings a year shall from henceforth keep any greyhound or other dog to hunt, nor shall he use ferrets, nets, heys, harepipes nor cords, nor other engines for to take or destroy deer, hares, nor conies, nor other gentlemen's game, under pain of twelve months' imprisonment.[43]
Ferrets were first introduced into the American continents in the 17th century, and were used extensively from 1860 until the start of World War II to protect grain stores in the American West from rodents. They are still used for hunting in some countries, including the United Kingdom, where rabbits are considered a pest by farmers.[44] The practice is illegal in several countries where it is feared that ferrets could unbalance the ecology. In 2009 in Finland, where ferreting was previously unknown, the city of Helsinki began to use ferrets to restrict the city's rabbit population to a manageable level. Ferreting was chosen because in populated areas it is considered to be safer and less ecologically damaging than shooting the rabbits.
As pets
A ferret in a war dance jump
In the United States, ferrets were relatively rare pets until the 1980s. A government study by the California State Bird and Mammal Conservation Program estimated that by 1996 about 800,000 domestic ferrets were being kept as pets in the United States.[45]
Regulation
Australia: It is illegal to keep ferrets as pets in Queensland and the Northern Territory;[46] in the Australian Capital Territory a licence is required.[47]
Brazil: Ferrets are allowed only if they are given a microchip identification tag and sterilized.
New Zealand: It has been illegal to sell, distribute or breed ferrets in New Zealand since 2002 unless certain conditions are met.[48]
United States: Ferrets were once banned in many US states, but most of these laws were rescinded in the 1980s and 1990s as they became popular pets.
Illegal: Ferrets are illegal in California under Fish and Game Code Section 2118;[49] and the California Code of Regulations,[50] although it is not illegal for veterinarians in the state to treat ferrets kept as pets. "Ferrets are strictly prohibited as pets under Hawaii law because they are potential carriers of the rabies virus";[51] the territory of Puerto Rico has a similar law.[52] Ferrets are restricted by some municipalities, such as New York City,[52] which renewed its ban in 2015.[53][54] They are also prohibited on many military bases.[52] A permit to own a ferret is needed in other areas, including Rhode Island.[55] Illinois and Georgia do not require a permit to merely possess a ferret, but a permit is required to breed ferrets.[56][57] It was once illegal to own ferrets in Dallas, Texas,[58] but the current Dallas City Code for Animals includes regulations for the vaccination of ferrets.[59] Pet ferrets are legal in Wisconsin, however legality varies by municipality. The city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for example, classifies ferrets as a wild animal and subsequently prohibits them from being kept within the city limits. Also, an import permit from the state department of agriculture is required to bring one into the state.[60] Under common law, ferrets are deemed "wild animals" subject to strict liability for injuries they cause, but in several states statutory law has overruled the common law, deeming ferrets "domestic".[61]
Japan: In Hokkaido prefecture, ferrets must be registered with the local government.[62] In other prefectures, no restrictions apply.
Other uses
Ferrets are an important experimental animal model for human influenza,[63][64] and have been used to study the 2009 H1N1 (swine flu) virus.[65] Smith, Andrews, Laidlaw (1933) inoculated ferrets intra-nasally with human naso-pharyngeal washes, which produced a form of influenza that spread to other cage mates. The human influenza virus (Influenza type A) was transmitted from an infected ferret to a junior investigator, from whom it was subsequently re-isolated.
Ferrets have been used in many broad areas of research, such as the study of pathogenesis and treatment in a variety of human disease, these including studies into cardiovascular disease, nutrition, respiratory diseases such as SARS and human influenza, airway physiology,[66] cystic fibrosis and gastrointestinal disease.
Because they share many anatomical and physiological features with humans, ferrets are extensively used as experimental subjects in biomedical research, in fields such as virology, reproductive physiology, anatomy, endocrinology and neuroscience.[67]
In the UK, ferret racing is often a feature of rural fairs or festivals, with people placing small bets on ferrets that run set routes through pipes and wire mesh. Although financial bets are placed, the event is primarily for entertainment purposes as opposed to 'serious' betting sports such as horse or greyhound racing.[68][69]
A very small experimental study of ferrets found that a nasal spray effectively blocked the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19.[70]
Terminology and coloring
Typical ferret coloration, known as a sable or polecat-colored ferret
Most ferrets are either albinos, with white fur and pink eyes, or display the typical dark masked sable coloration of their wild polecat ancestors. In recent years fancy breeders have produced a wide variety of colors and patterns. Color refers to the color of the ferret's guard hairs, undercoat, eyes and nose; pattern refers to the concentration and distribution of color on the body, mask and nose, as well as white markings on the head or feet when present. Some national organizations, such as the American Ferret Association, have attempted to classify these variations in their showing standards.[71]
There are four basic colors. The sable (including chocolate and dark brown), albino, dark-eyed white (DEW, also known as black-eyed white or BEW) and silver. All the other colors of a ferret are variations on one of these four categories.
Waardenburg-like coloring
White or albino ferret
Ferrets with a white stripe on their face or a fully white head, primarily blazes, badgers and pandas, almost certainly carry a congenital defect which shares some similarities to Waardenburg syndrome. This causes, among other things, a cranial deformation in the womb which broadens the skull, white face markings, and also partial or total deafness. It is estimated as many as 75 percent of ferrets with these Waardenburg-like colorings are deaf.
White ferrets were favored in the Middle Ages for the ease in seeing them in thick undergrowth. Leonardo da Vinci's painting Lady with an Ermine is likely mislabelled; the animal is probably a ferret, not a stoat (for which "ermine" is an alternative name for the animal in its white winter coat). Similarly, the ermine portrait of Queen Elizabeth I shows her with her pet ferret, which has been decorated with painted-on heraldic ermine spots.
The Ferreter's Tapestry is a 15th-century tapestry from Burgundy, France, now part of the Burrell Collection housed in the Glasgow Museum and Art Galleries. It shows a group of peasants hunting rabbits with nets and white ferrets. This image was reproduced in Renaissance Dress in Italy 1400–1500, by Jacqueline Herald, Bell & Hyman.[72]
Gaston Phoebus' Book of the Hunt was written in approximately 1389 to explain how to hunt different kinds of animals, including how to use ferrets to hunt rabbits. Illustrations show how multicolored ferrets that were fitted with muzzles were used to chase rabbits out of their warrens and into waiting nets.
Import restrictions
Australia – Ferrets cannot be imported into Australia. A report drafted in August 2000 seems to be the only effort made to date to change the situation.[73]
Canada – Ferrets brought from anywhere except the US require a Permit to Import from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Animal Health Office. Ferrets from the US require only a vaccination certificate signed by a veterinarian. Ferrets under three months old are not subject to any import restrictions.[74]
European Union – As of July 2004, dogs, cats and ferrets can travel freely within the European Union under the pet passport scheme. To cross a border within the EU, ferrets require at minimum an EU PETS passport and an identification microchip (though some countries will accept a tattoo instead). Vaccinations are required; most countries require a rabies vaccine, and some require a distemper vaccine and treatment for ticks and fleas 24 to 48 hours before entry. Ferrets occasionally need to be quarantined before entering the country. PETS travel information is available from any EU veterinarian or on government websites.
New Zealand – New Zealand has banned the import of ferrets into the country.[75]
United Kingdom – The UK accepts ferrets under the EU's PETS travel scheme. Ferrets must be microchipped, vaccinated against rabies, and documented. They must be treated for ticks and tapeworms 24 to 48 hours before entry. They must also arrive via an authorized route. Ferrets arriving from outside the EU may be subject to a six-month quarantine
As we leave a trail
of snowshoe imprints
And if he is hunting rabbits
in the snowy woods
his hounds
transmitting messages
from deep in the evergreens
how can I mind
how can I mind
when the
snowmobiles
race over the hill
leaving
speed and exhaust
in their wake...
Researcher Miranda Crowell is no Elmer Fudd, but she is hunting rabbits.
Well, pygmy rabbits, to be exact.
For the past 15 years, BLM wildlife biologists and graduate student researchers in southern Oregon have been attempting to learn more about the survival rate, range size and even burrow selection process for the world’s smallest rabbits.
The trick, of course, is that catching tiny rabbits is not so easy. Adult pygmy rabbits weigh a less than a pound. They are also fast and live underground.
"We used to go out and look for a pygmy rabbit, then chase it to its burrows,” said Crowell, a researcher working on her thesis at the University of Nevada.
A pygmy rabbit life span is only a few years, and almost their entire diet consists of sagebrush, so bait trapping isn’t an option. All of these factors explain why little is known about them.
For example, why do the rabbits continue to eat primarily sagebrush outside of winter, when other grasses and seeds are available?
“There are a lot of toxins in sagebrush,” Crowell explained. “There must be something in sagebrush that they need or really like.”
Researchers these days identify a pygmy burrow by its size and the nearby scat, setting traps in the middle of the night and returning immediately at dawn to check them.
By the end of July, Crowell’s team had successfully captured and tagged 50 pygmy rabbits in the area of Beaty Butte, a remote section of southeast Oregon between Steens Mountain and the community of Lakeview.
Radio collars don’t work on pygmies because they are too small, so tagging consists of inserting a grain-of-rice-sized chip into the rabbit’s neck, just like a family pet gets for tracking.
Many other measurements are gathered, too: DNA sample; weight; hind foot; and ear. The whole process takes less than five minutes.
Crowell said she hopes to return in the winter to compare the animal’s movements between seasons. In addition to BLM-managed land, research is also being collected from the nearby Sheldon-Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge and two sites in Nevada.
One of the many interesting pygmy rabbit characteristics Crowell is learning about: socialization.
“Studies in the ‘40s and ‘80s assumed they were solitary, but now we know they use each other’s burrow systems,” said Crowell.
Check back later for results from the winter ‘rabbit hunting’ efforts!
Photos and videos captured in July of 2016 by Larisa Bogardus, BLM
I’m back where home means miles and miles of land, skies full of stars and no internet. I'm back where the sun shines relentlessly and where cattle roam wild and free. Even before I came out here this has always been home. The country, the hills, the freedom, it has always been in my heart.
During the last few weeks I've been on innumerable adventures and I have been taken pictures when I could. Expect many more to come, but here are a few.
Moving bees, hunting rabbits for dinner, short road trips over country roads and hikes over the hills. There is no place I'd rather be right now.
Researcher Miranda Crowell is no Elmer Fudd, but she is hunting rabbits.
Well, pygmy rabbits, to be exact.
For the past 15 years, BLM wildlife biologists and graduate student researchers in southern Oregon have been attempting to learn more about the survival rate, range size and even burrow selection process for the world’s smallest rabbits.
The trick, of course, is that catching tiny rabbits is not so easy. They are small, fast and live underground. Adult pygmies weigh a less than a pound.
"We used to go out and look for a pygmy rabbit, then chase it to its burrows,” said Crowell, a researcher working on her thesis at the University of Nevada.
A pygmy rabbit life span is only a few years, and almost their entire diet consists of sagebrush, so bait trapping isn’t an option. All of these factors explain why little is known about them.
For example, why do the rabbits continue to eat primarily sagebrush outside of winter, when other grasses and seeds are available?
“There are a lot of toxins in sagebrush,” Crowell explained. “There must be something in sagebrush that they need or really like.”
Researchers these days identify a pygmy burrow by its size and the nearby scat, setting traps in the middle of the night and returning immediately at dawn to check them.
By the end of July, Crowell’s team had successfully captured and tagged 50 pygmy rabbits in the area of Beaty Butte, a remote section of southeast Oregon between Steens Mountain and the community of Lakeview.
Radio collars don’t work on pygmies because they are too small, so tagging consists of inserting a grain-of-rice-sized chip into the rabbit’s neck, just like a family pet gets for tracking.
Many other measurements are gathered, too: DNA sample; weight; hind foot; and ear. The whole process takes less than five minutes.
Crowell said she hopes to return in the winter to compare the animal’s movements between seasons. In addition to BLM-managed land, research is also being collected from the nearby Sheldon-Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge and two sites in Nevada.
One of the many interesting pygmy rabbit characteristics Crowell is learning about: socialization.
“Studies in the ‘40s and ‘80s assumed they were solitary, but now we know they use each other’s burrow systems,” said Crowell.
Check back later for results from the winter ‘rabbit hunting’ efforts!
Photos and videos captured in July of 2016 by Larisa Bogardus, BLM
I’m back where home means miles and miles of land, skies full of stars and no internet. I'm back where the sun shines relentlessly and where cattle roam wild and free. Even before I came out here this has always been home. The country, the hills, the freedom, it has always been in my heart.
During the last few weeks I've been on innumerable adventures and I have been taken pictures when I could. Expect many more to come, but here are a few.
Moving bees, hunting rabbits for dinner, short road trips over country roads and hikes over the hills. There is no place I'd rather be right now.
Persistent URL: digital.lib.muohio.edu/u?/tradecards,4247
Subject (TGM): Coffee industry; Ethnic groups; Men; Falconry; Falcons; Rabbit hunting; Rabbits; Public baths; Animals;
driving through the fields surrounding dirk's mom's farm, we ended up in the middle of a chase hunt that his brother participated in as a chaser.
it wasn't nice.
one of those rabbits would later end up at the farm, lying in the hallway, waiting to be skinned.
no one was too keen to skin it. my take is this: if you participate in killing it and want to eat it, you have to do the even dirtier work, too.
one more reason to be vegan.
all i could think of was a rhyme we sang in kindergarten "armes häschen bist du krank/das du nicht mehr hüpfen kannst...."
i hate hunting with a passion.
Persistent URL: digital.lib.muohio.edu/u?/tradecards,4398
Subject (TGM): Coffee industry; Ethnic groups; Indigenous peoples; Men; Children playing outdoors; Boomerangs; Hunting; Kangaroos; Rabbits; Horses; Horseback riding; Birds; Cockatoos;
The Pharaoh hound is believed by many to be descended from a breed of ancient Egyptian hunting dogs, and are similar to images of dogs found on the walls of tombs.
It is the national hound of Malta, where its local name is Kelb tal-Fenek meaning "Rabbit dog", as it is used for hunting rabbits.
Seneca Caverns is a show cave located in northeastern Seneca County, Ohio, United States, just outside of Flat Rock. The cave is designated as a Registered Natural Landmark by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
The cave was discovered in June 1872 by two boys named Peter Rutan and Henry Homer while they were hunting rabbits with their dog. The dog chased a rabbit into a brush pile, where they then disappeared. While searching through the brush pile, the two boys found an opening, fell through it, and landed in the first level of the cave, where they found their dog. The boys returned home and told everyone about their discovery. The cave became known as Good's Cave, named for Emmanuel Good, the owner of the farm on which the cave was located.
In 1931, Don Bell, a lawyer from Bellevue, discovered a series of passageways and rooms in the cave which led to an underground river, called Ole' Mist'ry River, which is part of the vast groundwater system that underlies the surrounding region. After two and a half years of improvement effort, the cave was renamed Seneca Caverns and opened to the public on May 14, 1933.
The information above comes from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Caverns_%28Ohio%29
Years ago I was a licensed falconer and did this for about 10 years. I trained/ flew/ hunted all types of raptors but primarily Red-tailed Hawks like this one. This little guy's name was Stryker, and he was my second bird as an apprentice. I trapped him on my birthday 11/14/1998 on a frontage road off Interstate 81 near Natural Bridge, VA. He was a "passager" in falconry jargon which means a bird that was hatched the previous spring. Most people wanted very large females that would fly at 40 ounces, the theory being they would be more aggressive and handle larger prey. This one flew at 28 ounces, but he had heart, attitude and agility that would serve him well in hunting rabbits.
I had him a few months and arrived at the first falconry field meet of the year in January, Stryker had caught more game than all the other birds of apprentice falconers combined, and they all had large females. I ended up flying him 2 seasons, keeping him in a mews over one summer (called intermewing) and that is when he molted into his red tail, the juveniles have a brown one. This photo was taken in a field where we typically hunted rabbits after my job in the evenings. There is now a Wal Mart and Lowes in this location.
I released Stryker back to the wild on Leap Day, 2/29/2000 and never saw him again. I felt that part of falconry was successfully hunting a wild bird and then releasing it back to freedom where it could have youngsters and choose its own fate. He was my first to release, and was a beloved hunting partner, so I had tears in my eyes all the way driving back home from where I let him go. Going down the road Sarah McLachlan’s “I Will Remember You” came on the radio...how fitting! I always think of this bird when I hear that song now. It is possible for this type of hawk to live 30 years, so I hope he is still out there somewhere producing more of his type each season. I flew a lot of birds after him, but Stryker has that something special that tells me he very well could still be with us despite the unlikelihood with the dangers of the wild.
The statistics for Red-tailed Hawks survival: 70% of a given hatch does not live to see 1 year of age. 95% do not live to see 5 years of age. The ones who get past those hurdles obviously have the skills to potentially live a very long time, but they face the possibility of poisoning from the game they eat, electrocution on power poles, struck by vehicle, shot by hunters, predation by Great Horned Owls at night, and a myriad of other situations beyond their control. 27 years old is the oldest know wild one via tagging.
sitting under a tree in my local woods when this stoat started hunting rabbits. my best moment in photography so far.so for the next few weeks i
shall be trying to follow this stoat and see if their are any more..
Rabbit hunting: A german wirehaired pointer is waiting for the hunter who is waiting for the rabbit which will not wait for the ferret. I was waiting too, back then in 2002 / 2003 :-)
Analog: Nikon FM.
Film: Ilford 3200.
Scan: DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400
Researcher Miranda Crowell is no Elmer Fudd, but she is hunting rabbits.
Well, pygmy rabbits, to be exact.
For the past 15 years, BLM wildlife biologists and graduate student researchers in southern Oregon have been attempting to learn more about the survival rate, range size and even burrow selection process for the world’s smallest rabbits.
The trick, of course, is that catching tiny rabbits is not so easy. Adult pygmy rabbits weigh a less than a pound. They are also fast and live underground.
"We used to go out and look for a pygmy rabbit, then chase it to its burrows,” said Crowell, a researcher working on her thesis at the University of Nevada.
A pygmy rabbit life span is only a few years, and almost their entire diet consists of sagebrush, so bait trapping isn’t an option. All of these factors explain why little is known about them.
For example, why do the rabbits continue to eat primarily sagebrush outside of winter, when other grasses and seeds are available?
“There are a lot of toxins in sagebrush,” Crowell explained. “There must be something in sagebrush that they need or really like.”
Researchers these days identify a pygmy burrow by its size and the nearby scat, setting traps in the middle of the night and returning immediately at dawn to check them.
By the end of July, Crowell’s team had successfully captured and tagged 50 pygmy rabbits in the area of Beaty Butte, a remote section of southeast Oregon between Steens Mountain and the community of Lakeview.
Radio collars don’t work on pygmies because they are too small, so tagging consists of inserting a grain-of-rice-sized chip into the rabbit’s neck, just like a family pet gets for tracking.
Many other measurements are gathered, too: DNA sample; weight; hind foot; and ear. The whole process takes less than five minutes.
Crowell said she hopes to return in the winter to compare the animal’s movements between seasons. In addition to BLM-managed land, research is also being collected from the nearby Sheldon-Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge and two sites in Nevada.
One of the many interesting pygmy rabbit characteristics Crowell is learning about: socialization.
“Studies in the ‘40s and ‘80s assumed they were solitary, but now we know they use each other’s burrow systems,” said Crowell.
Check back later for results from the winter ‘rabbit hunting’ efforts!
Photos and videos captured in July of 2016 by Larisa Bogardus, BLM