View allAll Photos Tagged Hunting_Rabbit
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
A pale (but well within the normal variability of the species) Buzzard hunting Rabbits from a perch above their warren at Pulborough Brooks RSPB reserve, West Sussex.
Exaggerated real photo postcard by W. H Martin 1909. William H. Martin of Ottawa, Kansas, was considered to be one of the best at producing exaggerated photograph postcards.
Martin's photography studio began experimenting with trick photography around 1908. He was so successful that he established the Martin Post Card Company in 1909 and reportedly produced seven million cards the next year. Information from the Kansas Historical Society Website at: www.kshs.org/cool2/coolpost.htm
Back is postmarked Birnamwood Wis (Wisconsin) Mar 29, 1910.
Ferret during rabbit hunting comes out of an empty rabbit hole. The rabbits are being trapped with little cages. The goal of all this is damage control in industrial areas.
More info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferret)
Looking towards the Dunstan Mountains and Moutere Station homestead in Central Otago.
The countryside is unusually green for this time of the year due to the wet and cold December we have just had. Normally it would be brown.
My husband and sons were hunting rabbits (a major introduced pest) in the hills that evening and I went along to take photos, I had been hoping for some nice evening light but as you can see it largely remained overcast. Maybe next time...
As with almost all of my photos it is better bigger so try it ~Large On Black~
Day 13: Wednesday 15th July 2015
Wednesday
All good things come to an end, and for us, it is the start of the long, long trip home. Somehow I manage to sleep until half seven, which means rushing round like a blue-arsed fly, having showers, packing, going down for breakfast and then loading the car. It might not be the best hotel in the world, but with views like those, who really cares? The room was clean, the breakfast good, and there was a well-stocked bar downstairs if you got thirsty.
Perfect.
And so, the open roads, hundreds of miles lay before us, we just have to get through the mad traffic around Edinburgh first. Saying that, it flows quite well, and soon we are heading out towards the coast, the sun is breaking through, life is glorious. The coastline is green and rolling, and at times the road runs right next to the coast, giving views of the rugged shore.
We roar down the A1, through small coastal towns, past factories and nuclear power stations until we come to the border at Berwick.
10 miles south we turn off at drive for the last time to Lindisfarne. This time we did know where the Helleborines were. So, we drive over the causeway and turn off at the parking area. It was a brisk walk to the dune slack: now, I did know that they were in flower, as, I had managed to get the internet to work, and had seen phots posted. And, at the edge of the slack, there were two caged plants.
Now, I have to say, that for most people, travelling the length of the country to see these two larger plants, with two smaller ones on the dune just showing above ground, might sound mad. It does me writing it now. But, it gave me such joy to see these small, rare flowers growing in this one area, despite there seem many over many acres that would also seem perfect. But that is orchids all over.
We walk back to the car with smiles over our faces. Or on mine at least. We had met a couple of good folks last time we were on Lindisfarne, and they told us of another Tyne Helleborines site, where they should be flowering. Only trouble was that the directions were vague. But this site would save us over an hour of travelling to Alston. We shall see.
The sat nav is programmed, and off we go, leaving the island with two hours before the tide would have trapped us. The sun is still shining, and we have Radio 6 on the car radio; it is wonderful. We know the roads by now, and so are cruising down the A1 towards Morpeth where the decent road began again. From there it was 20 minutes along the Tyne Valley to the small village where we hoped we would find the plants.
We park up in the village, and walk along the bed of an old wagonway. No sign of tracks or that there was ever a railway along here. Except it ran level and straight.
Tyne Helleborine Epipactis dunensis We turn off it, follow a path, then head into the woods. No idea of distance, except somewhere along here there were orchids. We follow the riverside path, pass through a sandy area, which seemed perfect, but it was so overgrown, it seemed impossible that they would be here, or at least beside the river. After 15 minutes, we turn round and split up. I take the path beside the river, Jools follows the main path set back.
I lose sight of Jools, but then through the trees I see her red shorts. And the rest of her. Have you seen them, I asked fearing the worse. Yes, she says, just have found a group beside the path. And sure enough there, and many more in the undergrowth were the Tyne Helleborines. Wow, just like that we found them.
Tyne Helleborine Epipactis dunensis The ones beside the path were almost in the sunshine, so made for easy snapping.
Now, we had the two Dunes done, we now just had to re-visit Bishop Middleham once more to see if the Dark Red were open. I hoped they would be.
It was a half hour drive, back along the A1 through Newcastle and Gateshead, coupled with major roadworks, which made for difficult driving, but with the sun out if was pleasant enough. Into County Durham, and off the Great North Road, through some villages, past the huge quarry, through Bishop Middleham and to the disused quarry. Only to find ten cars parked on the narrow road, we just manage to find a space to park, grab our cameras and walk in.
I go straight to the edge of the quarry and look down, once again hoping to see a sea of red from the orchids: I think I see one flowering spike, so I give Jools the thumbs up. She smiles. I hope.
Down the steep steps and onto the floor of the quarry; around there are groups of two of three people looking at the plants and butterflies; they seem to have at least one guide with them. But we know our quarry in the quarry, and so go to where they are thickest. I am stunned to find either spikes not yet in flower, or worse, spikes that have been nibbled by rabbits.
I walk round increasingly desperate: this was supposed to be the slam dunk site: we knew this site, and where the orchids were. In the end we find a handful of flowering spikes, all I have to do now is wait for the sunshine.
Minutes dragged on, maybe 15 minutes, until the big dark cloud above us cleared, and the old quarry was bathed in warm sunshine. I get the shots I wanted, all in glorious sunshine, making the colours of the orchids so vivid.
After chatting with a local man, and showing him the orchids, he then points us to movement on the side of the quarry: a polecat was hunting rabbits and coming out of a rabbit hole and disappearing into another. One more highlight for our trip, but I don’t try to photograph it. It was too far away.
All we have to do now is to drive back down the A1 to a service area just south of Leeds. Not perfect, but £60 for a room is about what we want to pay, so, we set the sat nav for south, and off we go, Jools driving, and us roaring south, the Rav4 eating the miles.
The sun is now fully out, and it is hot so we turn the air con up another notch.
Day 13: Wednesday 15th July 2015
Wednesday
All good things come to an end, and for us, it is the start of the long, long trip home. Somehow I manage to sleep until half seven, which means rushing round like a blue-arsed fly, having showers, packing, going down for breakfast and then loading the car. It might not be the best hotel in the world, but with views like those, who really cares? The room was clean, the breakfast good, and there was a well-stocked bar downstairs if you got thirsty.
Perfect.
And so, the open roads, hundreds of miles lay before us, we just have to get through the mad traffic around Edinburgh first. Saying that, it flows quite well, and soon we are heading out towards the coast, the sun is breaking through, life is glorious. The coastline is green and rolling, and at times the road runs right next to the coast, giving views of the rugged shore.
We roar down the A1, through small coastal towns, past factories and nuclear power stations until we come to the border at Berwick.
10 miles south we turn off at drive for the last time to Lindisfarne. This time we did know where the Helleborines were. So, we drive over the causeway and turn off at the parking area. It was a brisk walk to the dune slack: now, I did know that they were in flower, as, I had managed to get the internet to work, and had seen phots posted. And, at the edge of the slack, there were two caged plants.
Now, I have to say, that for most people, travelling the length of the country to see these two larger plants, with two smaller ones on the dune just showing above ground, might sound mad. It does me writing it now. But, it gave me such joy to see these small, rare flowers growing in this one area, despite there seem many over many acres that would also seem perfect. But that is orchids all over.
We walk back to the car with smiles over our faces. Or on mine at least. We had met a couple of good folks last time we were on Lindisfarne, and they told us of another Tyne Helleborines site, where they should be flowering. Only trouble was that the directions were vague. But this site would save us over an hour of travelling to Alston. We shall see.
The sat nav is programmed, and off we go, leaving the island with two hours before the tide would have trapped us. The sun is still shining, and we have Radio 6 on the car radio; it is wonderful. We know the roads by now, and so are cruising down the A1 towards Morpeth where the decent road began again. From there it was 20 minutes along the Tyne Valley to the small village where we hoped we would find the plants.
We park up in the village, and walk along the bed of an old wagonway. No sign of tracks or that there was ever a railway along here. Except it ran level and straight.
Tyne Helleborine Epipactis dunensis We turn off it, follow a path, then head into the woods. No idea of distance, except somewhere along here there were orchids. We follow the riverside path, pass through a sandy area, which seemed perfect, but it was so overgrown, it seemed impossible that they would be here, or at least beside the river. After 15 minutes, we turn round and split up. I take the path beside the river, Jools follows the main path set back.
I lose sight of Jools, but then through the trees I see her red shorts. And the rest of her. Have you seen them, I asked fearing the worse. Yes, she says, just have found a group beside the path. And sure enough there, and many more in the undergrowth were the Tyne Helleborines. Wow, just like that we found them.
Tyne Helleborine Epipactis dunensis The ones beside the path were almost in the sunshine, so made for easy snapping.
Now, we had the two Dunes done, we now just had to re-visit Bishop Middleham once more to see if the Dark Red were open. I hoped they would be.
It was a half hour drive, back along the A1 through Newcastle and Gateshead, coupled with major roadworks, which made for difficult driving, but with the sun out if was pleasant enough. Into County Durham, and off the Great North Road, through some villages, past the huge quarry, through Bishop Middleham and to the disused quarry. Only to find ten cars parked on the narrow road, we just manage to find a space to park, grab our cameras and walk in.
I go straight to the edge of the quarry and look down, once again hoping to see a sea of red from the orchids: I think I see one flowering spike, so I give Jools the thumbs up. She smiles. I hope.
Down the steep steps and onto the floor of the quarry; around there are groups of two of three people looking at the plants and butterflies; they seem to have at least one guide with them. But we know our quarry in the quarry, and so go to where they are thickest. I am stunned to find either spikes not yet in flower, or worse, spikes that have been nibbled by rabbits.
I walk round increasingly desperate: this was supposed to be the slam dunk site: we knew this site, and where the orchids were. In the end we find a handful of flowering spikes, all I have to do now is wait for the sunshine.
Minutes dragged on, maybe 15 minutes, until the big dark cloud above us cleared, and the old quarry was bathed in warm sunshine. I get the shots I wanted, all in glorious sunshine, making the colours of the orchids so vivid.
After chatting with a local man, and showing him the orchids, he then points us to movement on the side of the quarry: a polecat was hunting rabbits and coming out of a rabbit hole and disappearing into another. One more highlight for our trip, but I don’t try to photograph it. It was too far away.
All we have to do now is to drive back down the A1 to a service area just south of Leeds. Not perfect, but £60 for a room is about what we want to pay, so, we set the sat nav for south, and off we go, Jools driving, and us roaring south, the Rav4 eating the miles.
The sun is now fully out, and it is hot so we turn the air con up another notch.
Day 13: Wednesday 15th July 2015
Wednesday
All good things come to an end, and for us, it is the start of the long, long trip home. Somehow I manage to sleep until half seven, which means rushing round like a blue-arsed fly, having showers, packing, going down for breakfast and then loading the car. It might not be the best hotel in the world, but with views like those, who really cares? The room was clean, the breakfast good, and there was a well-stocked bar downstairs if you got thirsty.
Perfect.
And so, the open roads, hundreds of miles lay before us, we just have to get through the mad traffic around Edinburgh first. Saying that, it flows quite well, and soon we are heading out towards the coast, the sun is breaking through, life is glorious. The coastline is green and rolling, and at times the road runs right next to the coast, giving views of the rugged shore.
We roar down the A1, through small coastal towns, past factories and nuclear power stations until we come to the border at Berwick.
10 miles south we turn off at drive for the last time to Lindisfarne. This time we did know where the Helleborines were. So, we drive over the causeway and turn off at the parking area. It was a brisk walk to the dune slack: now, I did know that they were in flower, as, I had managed to get the internet to work, and had seen phots posted. And, at the edge of the slack, there were two caged plants.
Now, I have to say, that for most people, travelling the length of the country to see these two larger plants, with two smaller ones on the dune just showing above ground, might sound mad. It does me writing it now. But, it gave me such joy to see these small, rare flowers growing in this one area, despite there seem many over many acres that would also seem perfect. But that is orchids all over.
We walk back to the car with smiles over our faces. Or on mine at least. We had met a couple of good folks last time we were on Lindisfarne, and they told us of another Tyne Helleborines site, where they should be flowering. Only trouble was that the directions were vague. But this site would save us over an hour of travelling to Alston. We shall see.
The sat nav is programmed, and off we go, leaving the island with two hours before the tide would have trapped us. The sun is still shining, and we have Radio 6 on the car radio; it is wonderful. We know the roads by now, and so are cruising down the A1 towards Morpeth where the decent road began again. From there it was 20 minutes along the Tyne Valley to the small village where we hoped we would find the plants.
We park up in the village, and walk along the bed of an old wagonway. No sign of tracks or that there was ever a railway along here. Except it ran level and straight.
Tyne Helleborine Epipactis dunensis We turn off it, follow a path, then head into the woods. No idea of distance, except somewhere along here there were orchids. We follow the riverside path, pass through a sandy area, which seemed perfect, but it was so overgrown, it seemed impossible that they would be here, or at least beside the river. After 15 minutes, we turn round and split up. I take the path beside the river, Jools follows the main path set back.
I lose sight of Jools, but then through the trees I see her red shorts. And the rest of her. Have you seen them, I asked fearing the worse. Yes, she says, just have found a group beside the path. And sure enough there, and many more in the undergrowth were the Tyne Helleborines. Wow, just like that we found them.
Tyne Helleborine Epipactis dunensis The ones beside the path were almost in the sunshine, so made for easy snapping.
Now, we had the two Dunes done, we now just had to re-visit Bishop Middleham once more to see if the Dark Red were open. I hoped they would be.
It was a half hour drive, back along the A1 through Newcastle and Gateshead, coupled with major roadworks, which made for difficult driving, but with the sun out if was pleasant enough. Into County Durham, and off the Great North Road, through some villages, past the huge quarry, through Bishop Middleham and to the disused quarry. Only to find ten cars parked on the narrow road, we just manage to find a space to park, grab our cameras and walk in.
I go straight to the edge of the quarry and look down, once again hoping to see a sea of red from the orchids: I think I see one flowering spike, so I give Jools the thumbs up. She smiles. I hope.
Down the steep steps and onto the floor of the quarry; around there are groups of two of three people looking at the plants and butterflies; they seem to have at least one guide with them. But we know our quarry in the quarry, and so go to where they are thickest. I am stunned to find either spikes not yet in flower, or worse, spikes that have been nibbled by rabbits.
I walk round increasingly desperate: this was supposed to be the slam dunk site: we knew this site, and where the orchids were. In the end we find a handful of flowering spikes, all I have to do now is wait for the sunshine.
Minutes dragged on, maybe 15 minutes, until the big dark cloud above us cleared, and the old quarry was bathed in warm sunshine. I get the shots I wanted, all in glorious sunshine, making the colours of the orchids so vivid.
After chatting with a local man, and showing him the orchids, he then points us to movement on the side of the quarry: a polecat was hunting rabbits and coming out of a rabbit hole and disappearing into another. One more highlight for our trip, but I don’t try to photograph it. It was too far away.
All we have to do now is to drive back down the A1 to a service area just south of Leeds. Not perfect, but £60 for a room is about what we want to pay, so, we set the sat nav for south, and off we go, Jools driving, and us roaring south, the Rav4 eating the miles.
The sun is now fully out, and it is hot so we turn the air con up another notch.
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
Sorry bunny lovers.
This was with some old family photos, but I have no idea who these guys are. Anybody know what kind of car it is? Or is it too covered in bunnies to tell?
Flint, our young lurcher dog, around ten or eleven months old now.
A lurcher is a cross-breed dog, bred for hare coursing or hunting rabbits. The favourite dog of the traditional rabbit poacher. The earliest reference to lurchers in literature was in Norfolk, here in East Anglia. At least 50% of a lurcher's heritage should be sighthound - greyhound, whippet, or saluki normally. The remaining heritage can be a mixture - border collie, terriers, wolfhound,sheepdogs, etc.
On the very day our very much loved Milo passed away, we were given Molly. She was bred as a working dog, to work in a pack and track rabbits. The people who had her, were into competition with their dogs and they had a bunch of them. Molly had a litter of pups and became very serious over food issues, so they asked us if we could give her a good home and of course we said yes. She still has a problem with the others over food, (yes we have more dogs), and goes into full beagle-hunting-rabbit mode on walks, but other than that, she is a total love sponge. Oh, and she was never house broken, but we are working on it. I'll be posting more of the pack later.
How can I promote the Animal Rights Movement by switching the roles of animals and people in art?
- hunting rabbit sneaking up on innocent human
Beagles hunting rabbits at the NDSU Homecoming parade.
Date of Original: 1984
Item Number: Alumni_display_1984_039
Ordering Information: library.ndsu.edu/archives/collections-institute/photograp...
THE first shot with my SX20 at about 50 feet, and my first raptor! This Cooper's juvenile was hunting rabbits up by the ranch. When he spotted one but couldn't catch him from the air, he tried running on the ground after it. Something this majestic shouldn't look so helpless.
Image used by Cornell University in this article www.allaboutbirds.org/im-seeing-fewer-birds-in-my-yard-is....
Large Brampton salt glaze stoneware tyg C1840 lovely colour, very finely moulded sprigs with fantastic detail, decorated with royal coat of arms, toper falling asleep smoking a pipe and spilling ale on the floor, and poacher? hunting rabbits with a terrier, one rabbit is just behind the tree,this is an exellent sprig, unfortunately cracked with stapled historic repair, one staple inside the top rim, but still one of my favourite tygs
Deerland Malaysia
Located in a natural rainforest just a stone throw away from Kuala gandah Eplephant Sanctuary and Krau Wildlife Reserve at Bukit Rengit Lanchang, Pahang, it is about 2 hours away from Kuala Lumpur.
The serene and prestine natural environment is filled with abundance of flora and fauna.
Learn about the jungle, get in touch with your spiritual innerself. Feed the animals, appreciate what nature have to to offer.
(Animals includes monkeys, deer, snakes, sun bear and many more!)
The 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,[1] 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.
Ferreting
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 and rabbits out of their burrows. Caesar Augustus sent ferrets or mongooses (named "viverrae" by Plinius) to the Balearic Islands to control the rabbit plagues in 6 BC.They are still used for hunting in some countries, including the United Kingdom, where rabbits are considered a plague species by farmers. However, the practice is illegal in several countries where it is feared that ferrets could unbalance the ecology.
In England, in 1390, a law was enacted restricting the use of ferrets for hunting:
... it is ordained that no manner of layman which hath not lands to the value of forty shillings a year [the equivalent of about £1,000 in today's money] 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.
Ferrets were first introduced into the New World 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 invading rodents.
Sources : deerland.org
Large Brampton salt glaze stoneware tyg C1840 lovely colour, very finely moulded sprigs with fantastic detail, decorated with royal coat of arms, toper falling asleep smoking a pipe and spilling ale on the floor, and poacher? hunting rabbits with a terrier, one rabbit is just behind the tree,this is an exellent sprig, unfortunately cracked with stapled historic repair, one staple inside the top rim, but still one of my favourite tygs. This sprig appears on a dated jug in the Denby Museum collection which has been featured in two publications on Denby stoneware. Denby Pottery by Irene & Gordon Hopwood and Denby Stonewares by Graham & Alva Key, both of which attribute the jug to Bourne Denby, the jug is dated 1839 and is impressed W. Dale Pilesley, which could be Pilsley west of Brampton Chesterfield or another Pilsley that is located not far away near Clay Cross which is south of Chesterfield.
I have looked at the jug in The Denby Museum collection and it could be a case of incorrect attribution or an example of the common use of sprig designs and moulds,either commercially available or copied, with close examination of the greyhound handle it looks more Brampton than Denby the dogs nose is very pointed in common with one type of Brampton dog and there are other features of the dog and the jug including the spout detail that are typically Brampton and not normal for Bourne Denby. As always more comparison is needed !
At Ken Malloy Regional Park, Harbor City. I was wondering why he did not go after the coots. I fired off about 20 shots as he flew with the bunny. Cropped. The bunny got to be at least 2 lb, with the hawk around 3 to 4 lb, it's amazing if you think about it: carrying more than half your body weight and fly about 100 yards.
Tapestry woven in Burgundy, France between 1450 and 1475, one of a set. Ferret top left being released. Top right the lady is pointing out the man who has his trousers caught on the thorns, possibly showing his bum.
The Burrell is now closed for four years so you'll have to rely on this!
Day 13: Wednesday 15th July 2015
Wednesday
All good things come to an end, and for us, it is the start of the long, long trip home. Somehow I manage to sleep until half seven, which means rushing round like a blue-arsed fly, having showers, packing, going down for breakfast and then loading the car. It might not be the best hotel in the world, but with views like those, who really cares? The room was clean, the breakfast good, and there was a well-stocked bar downstairs if you got thirsty.
Perfect.
And so, the open roads, hundreds of miles lay before us, we just have to get through the mad traffic around Edinburgh first. Saying that, it flows quite well, and soon we are heading out towards the coast, the sun is breaking through, life is glorious. The coastline is green and rolling, and at times the road runs right next to the coast, giving views of the rugged shore.
We roar down the A1, through small coastal towns, past factories and nuclear power stations until we come to the border at Berwick.
10 miles south we turn off at drive for the last time to Lindisfarne. This time we did know where the Helleborines were. So, we drive over the causeway and turn off at the parking area. It was a brisk walk to the dune slack: now, I did know that they were in flower, as, I had managed to get the internet to work, and had seen phots posted. And, at the edge of the slack, there were two caged plants.
Now, I have to say, that for most people, travelling the length of the country to see these two larger plants, with two smaller ones on the dune just showing above ground, might sound mad. It does me writing it now. But, it gave me such joy to see these small, rare flowers growing in this one area, despite there seem many over many acres that would also seem perfect. But that is orchids all over.
We walk back to the car with smiles over our faces. Or on mine at least. We had met a couple of good folks last time we were on Lindisfarne, and they told us of another Tyne Helleborines site, where they should be flowering. Only trouble was that the directions were vague. But this site would save us over an hour of travelling to Alston. We shall see.
The sat nav is programmed, and off we go, leaving the island with two hours before the tide would have trapped us. The sun is still shining, and we have Radio 6 on the car radio; it is wonderful. We know the roads by now, and so are cruising down the A1 towards Morpeth where the decent road began again. From there it was 20 minutes along the Tyne Valley to the small village where we hoped we would find the plants.
We park up in the village, and walk along the bed of an old wagonway. No sign of tracks or that there was ever a railway along here. Except it ran level and straight.
Tyne Helleborine Epipactis dunensis We turn off it, follow a path, then head into the woods. No idea of distance, except somewhere along here there were orchids. We follow the riverside path, pass through a sandy area, which seemed perfect, but it was so overgrown, it seemed impossible that they would be here, or at least beside the river. After 15 minutes, we turn round and split up. I take the path beside the river, Jools follows the main path set back.
I lose sight of Jools, but then through the trees I see her red shorts. And the rest of her. Have you seen them, I asked fearing the worse. Yes, she says, just have found a group beside the path. And sure enough there, and many more in the undergrowth were the Tyne Helleborines. Wow, just like that we found them.
Tyne Helleborine Epipactis dunensis The ones beside the path were almost in the sunshine, so made for easy snapping.
Now, we had the two Dunes done, we now just had to re-visit Bishop Middleham once more to see if the Dark Red were open. I hoped they would be.
It was a half hour drive, back along the A1 through Newcastle and Gateshead, coupled with major roadworks, which made for difficult driving, but with the sun out if was pleasant enough. Into County Durham, and off the Great North Road, through some villages, past the huge quarry, through Bishop Middleham and to the disused quarry. Only to find ten cars parked on the narrow road, we just manage to find a space to park, grab our cameras and walk in.
I go straight to the edge of the quarry and look down, once again hoping to see a sea of red from the orchids: I think I see one flowering spike, so I give Jools the thumbs up. She smiles. I hope.
Down the steep steps and onto the floor of the quarry; around there are groups of two of three people looking at the plants and butterflies; they seem to have at least one guide with them. But we know our quarry in the quarry, and so go to where they are thickest. I am stunned to find either spikes not yet in flower, or worse, spikes that have been nibbled by rabbits.
I walk round increasingly desperate: this was supposed to be the slam dunk site: we knew this site, and where the orchids were. In the end we find a handful of flowering spikes, all I have to do now is wait for the sunshine.
Minutes dragged on, maybe 15 minutes, until the big dark cloud above us cleared, and the old quarry was bathed in warm sunshine. I get the shots I wanted, all in glorious sunshine, making the colours of the orchids so vivid.
After chatting with a local man, and showing him the orchids, he then points us to movement on the side of the quarry: a polecat was hunting rabbits and coming out of a rabbit hole and disappearing into another. One more highlight for our trip, but I don’t try to photograph it. It was too far away.
All we have to do now is to drive back down the A1 to a service area just south of Leeds. Not perfect, but £60 for a room is about what we want to pay, so, we set the sat nav for south, and off we go, Jools driving, and us roaring south, the Rav4 eating the miles.
The sun is now fully out, and it is hot so we turn the air con up another notch.
Large Brampton salt glaze stoneware tyg C1840 lovely colour, very finely moulded sprigs with fantastic detail, decorated with royal coat of arms, toper falling asleep smoking a pipe and spilling ale on the floor, and poacher? hunting rabbits with a terrier, one rabbit is just behind the tree,this is an exellent sprig, unfortunately cracked with stapled historic repair, one staple inside the top rim, but still one of my favourite tygs. This sprig appears on a dated jug in the Denby Museum collection which has been featured in two publications on Denby stoneware. Denby Pottery by Irene & Gordon Hopwood and Denby Stonewares by Graham & Alva Key, both of which attribute the jug to Bourne Denby, the jug is dated 1839 and is impressed W. Dale Pilesley, which could be Pilsley west of Brampton Chesterfield or another Pilsley that is located not far away near Clay Cross which is south of Chesterfield.
I have looked at the jug in The Denby Museum collection and it could be a case of incorrect attribution or an example of the common use of sprig designs and moulds,either commercially available or copied, with close examination of the greyhound handle it looks more Brampton than Denby the dogs nose is very pointed in common with one type of Brampton dog and there are other features of the dog and the jug including the spout detail that are typically Brampton and are not normal for Bourne Denby. As always more comparison is needed !
Day 13: Wednesday 15th July 2015
Wednesday
All good things come to an end, and for us, it is the start of the long, long trip home. Somehow I manage to sleep until half seven, which means rushing round like a blue-arsed fly, having showers, packing, going down for breakfast and then loading the car. It might not be the best hotel in the world, but with views like those, who really cares? The room was clean, the breakfast good, and there was a well-stocked bar downstairs if you got thirsty.
Perfect.
And so, the open roads, hundreds of miles lay before us, we just have to get through the mad traffic around Edinburgh first. Saying that, it flows quite well, and soon we are heading out towards the coast, the sun is breaking through, life is glorious. The coastline is green and rolling, and at times the road runs right next to the coast, giving views of the rugged shore.
We roar down the A1, through small coastal towns, past factories and nuclear power stations until we come to the border at Berwick.
10 miles south we turn off at drive for the last time to Lindisfarne. This time we did know where the Helleborines were. So, we drive over the causeway and turn off at the parking area. It was a brisk walk to the dune slack: now, I did know that they were in flower, as, I had managed to get the internet to work, and had seen phots posted. And, at the edge of the slack, there were two caged plants.
Now, I have to say, that for most people, travelling the length of the country to see these two larger plants, with two smaller ones on the dune just showing above ground, might sound mad. It does me writing it now. But, it gave me such joy to see these small, rare flowers growing in this one area, despite there seem many over many acres that would also seem perfect. But that is orchids all over.
We walk back to the car with smiles over our faces. Or on mine at least. We had met a couple of good folks last time we were on Lindisfarne, and they told us of another Tyne Helleborines site, where they should be flowering. Only trouble was that the directions were vague. But this site would save us over an hour of travelling to Alston. We shall see.
The sat nav is programmed, and off we go, leaving the island with two hours before the tide would have trapped us. The sun is still shining, and we have Radio 6 on the car radio; it is wonderful. We know the roads by now, and so are cruising down the A1 towards Morpeth where the decent road began again. From there it was 20 minutes along the Tyne Valley to the small village where we hoped we would find the plants.
We park up in the village, and walk along the bed of an old wagonway. No sign of tracks or that there was ever a railway along here. Except it ran level and straight.
Tyne Helleborine Epipactis dunensis We turn off it, follow a path, then head into the woods. No idea of distance, except somewhere along here there were orchids. We follow the riverside path, pass through a sandy area, which seemed perfect, but it was so overgrown, it seemed impossible that they would be here, or at least beside the river. After 15 minutes, we turn round and split up. I take the path beside the river, Jools follows the main path set back.
I lose sight of Jools, but then through the trees I see her red shorts. And the rest of her. Have you seen them, I asked fearing the worse. Yes, she says, just have found a group beside the path. And sure enough there, and many more in the undergrowth were the Tyne Helleborines. Wow, just like that we found them.
Tyne Helleborine Epipactis dunensis The ones beside the path were almost in the sunshine, so made for easy snapping.
Now, we had the two Dunes done, we now just had to re-visit Bishop Middleham once more to see if the Dark Red were open. I hoped they would be.
It was a half hour drive, back along the A1 through Newcastle and Gateshead, coupled with major roadworks, which made for difficult driving, but with the sun out if was pleasant enough. Into County Durham, and off the Great North Road, through some villages, past the huge quarry, through Bishop Middleham and to the disused quarry. Only to find ten cars parked on the narrow road, we just manage to find a space to park, grab our cameras and walk in.
I go straight to the edge of the quarry and look down, once again hoping to see a sea of red from the orchids: I think I see one flowering spike, so I give Jools the thumbs up. She smiles. I hope.
Down the steep steps and onto the floor of the quarry; around there are groups of two of three people looking at the plants and butterflies; they seem to have at least one guide with them. But we know our quarry in the quarry, and so go to where they are thickest. I am stunned to find either spikes not yet in flower, or worse, spikes that have been nibbled by rabbits.
I walk round increasingly desperate: this was supposed to be the slam dunk site: we knew this site, and where the orchids were. In the end we find a handful of flowering spikes, all I have to do now is wait for the sunshine.
Minutes dragged on, maybe 15 minutes, until the big dark cloud above us cleared, and the old quarry was bathed in warm sunshine. I get the shots I wanted, all in glorious sunshine, making the colours of the orchids so vivid.
After chatting with a local man, and showing him the orchids, he then points us to movement on the side of the quarry: a polecat was hunting rabbits and coming out of a rabbit hole and disappearing into another. One more highlight for our trip, but I don’t try to photograph it. It was too far away.
All we have to do now is to drive back down the A1 to a service area just south of Leeds. Not perfect, but £60 for a room is about what we want to pay, so, we set the sat nav for south, and off we go, Jools driving, and us roaring south, the Rav4 eating the miles.
The sun is now fully out, and it is hot so we turn the air con up another notch.
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
Because the red fox can be orange, silver, black, or any combination thereof, look for its distinguishing mark: a bushy, white-tipped tail. They also commonly have black "stockings," white undersides, and ears that may be tipped in black outside with white inside. Weighing about 10 to 14 pounds, red foxes are members of the dog family Canidae, and look similar to dogs, wolves, and coyotes. They have long, pointed snouts and erect ears, and are often seen because they prefer open habitats and are not strictly nocturnal.
While they are opportunistic, omnivorous feeders and will eat insects, birds, mice, snakes, rabbits, nuts, berries, and fruits.
The red fox, European rabbit, and Norway rat, were introduced to San Juan Island by humans, which changed the island’s natural balance.
—nps.gov
The Postcard
A postally unused postcard published on behalf of the Powell-Cotton Museum, Birchington, Kent, by Sunbeam Photo Ltd. of Thanet. The image is a glossy real photograph, and the card has a divided back which puts the publication date as post-1902.
Major Powell-Cotton
Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton, FZS, FRGS, FRAI, JP (20th. September 1866 – 26th. June 1940) was an English explorer, hunter and early conservationist, most noted for the creation of the Powell-Cotton Museum in the grounds of his home, Quex Park in Birchington-on-Sea, Kent, England.
Powell-Cotton is noted for bringing an extraordinary number of animal specimens back from his travels across Africa, potentially creating the largest collection of game ever shot by one man.
Despite this, Powell-Cotton was an early conservationist, helping categorise a wide number of species across the globe. His two daughters, Antoinette Powell-Cotton and Diana Powell-Cotton shared his passion for conservation, pursuing archaeology and anthropology respectively.
Powell-Cotton made a large number of films (Powell-Cotton Filmography) including ethnographic, documentary and wildlife films (Powell-Cotton Ethnographic Films).
-- Major Powell-Cotton - The Early Years
Percy Powell-Cotton was born in Margate. Most of his early life was spent in London, although he joined his family on many weekend and summer trips to their home in Margate.
Aged fifteen, Powell-Cotton helped his father modernise Quex House before the family returned to live there. Whilst living there, Powell-Cotton began breeding chickens, hunting rabbits and photographing wildlife. He kept meticulous records of these endeavours, a habit that would follow him into later life.
-- Military Career of Major Powell-Cotton
Powell-Cotton joined the Militia Battalion of Northumberland Fusiliers in 1885, and attended the Hythe School of Musketry for training. During the Second Boer War, Powell-Cotton served in the Volunteer Regiment of the 5th Battalion, who were stationed in Malta.
In July 1901, he retired from military service. However, at the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, Powell-Cotton offered himself up for military service. He was turned away as, at 48, he was considered too old to serve.
In lieu of serving in the war, Powell-Cotton offered his home, Quex House, to the Birchington Volunteer Aid Detachment to use as an Auxiliary Military Hospital.
-- The Expeditions
Powell-Cotton embarked on over 28 expeditions between 1887 and 1939, across Africa and Asia, gathering various zoological and ethnographic specimens.
In 1900, Powell-Cotton met with Emperor Menelik II, who granted him permission to hunt across Ethiopia. Powell-Cotton's subsequent expedition across Ethiopia formed the basis of his first book, 'A Sporting Trip Through Abyssinia'. In 1902 he was in Uganda and Kenya, visiting Lake Baringo.
In November 1905, whilst on an expedition in Kenya, Powell-Cotton married Hannah Brayton Slater in Nairobi Cathedral. To save interrupting his ninth expedition, his new wife chose to join him on his expedition, for a honeymoon that lasted two years.
In 1907, still on his honeymoon expedition, Powell-Cotton was badly mauled by a lion he had thought incapacitated by a precious shot. As he approached it, the lion leapt up and attacked with its claws and teeth.
Powell-Cotton escaped relatively unharmed due to a rolled up copy of Punch magazine in his breast pocket protecting him from the majority of the lion's attacks. The lion, the suit that Powell-Cotton was wearing and the copy of Punch are now all on display at the Powell-Cotton Museum.
Powell-Cotton's expeditions directly led into the creation of the Powell-Cotton Museum. After bringing back a range of zoological specimens from his early travels, Powell-Cotton contracted Rowland Ward to prepare the animals for display. Whilst on an expedition through India in 1896, Powell-Cotton enlisted his brother Gerald to oversee the construction of the Powell Cotton Museum in the grounds of Quex House.
Whilst on his expeditions, Powell-Cotton created a wide range of ethnographic films documenting the peoples and animals of the countries. In later life, he collaborated with his daughter Diana, who further added to the filmography after Powell-Cotton died.
The wide range of animal specimens that Powell-Cotton returned with from his travels have proved to be a valuable resource in taxonomic research, even in the present day. Consequently, Powell-Cotton has several species named in honour of him.
A hunter is waiting for a rabbit who can jump any second. The ferret is doing his job down in the rabbit hole. Not much training needed if the ferret is kind of domesticated. If no rabbits (anymore) in the holes, he will return to the hand that feeds him. In rare occasions, if the ferret gets a rabbit, he will go to sleep after a good meal. It means you have to dig, or wait. The little box left is to easily transport the ferret.
Taken in the North of Drenthe, Holland, 2002.
Shot with a Nikon FM.
Film: Ilford 400.
Scan: DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 .
Deerland Malaysia
Located in a natural rainforest just a stone throw away from Kuala gandah Eplephant Sanctuary and Krau Wildlife Reserve at Bukit Rengit Lanchang, Pahang, it is about 2 hours away from Kuala Lumpur.
The serene and prestine natural environment is filled with abundance of flora and fauna.
Learn about the jungle, get in touch with your spiritual innerself. Feed the animals, appreciate what nature have to to offer.
(Animals includes monkeys, deer, snakes, sun bear and many more!)
The 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,[1] 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.
Ferreting
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 and rabbits out of their burrows. Caesar Augustus sent ferrets or mongooses (named "viverrae" by Plinius) to the Balearic Islands to control the rabbit plagues in 6 BC.They are still used for hunting in some countries, including the United Kingdom, where rabbits are considered a plague species by farmers. However, the practice is illegal in several countries where it is feared that ferrets could unbalance the ecology.
In England, in 1390, a law was enacted restricting the use of ferrets for hunting:
... it is ordained that no manner of layman which hath not lands to the value of forty shillings a year [the equivalent of about £1,000 in today's money] 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.
Ferrets were first introduced into the New World 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 invading rodents.
Sources : deerland.org
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
Deerland Malaysia
Located in a natural rainforest just a stone throw away from Kuala gandah Eplephant Sanctuary and Krau Wildlife Reserve at Bukit Rengit Lanchang, Pahang, it is about 2 hours away from Kuala Lumpur.
The serene and prestine natural environment is filled with abundance of flora and fauna.
Learn about the jungle, get in touch with your spiritual innerself. Feed the animals, appreciate what nature have to to offer.
(Animals includes monkeys, deer, snakes, sun bear and many more!)
The 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,[1] 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.
Ferreting
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 and rabbits out of their burrows. Caesar Augustus sent ferrets or mongooses (named "viverrae" by Plinius) to the Balearic Islands to control the rabbit plagues in 6 BC.They are still used for hunting in some countries, including the United Kingdom, where rabbits are considered a plague species by farmers. However, the practice is illegal in several countries where it is feared that ferrets could unbalance the ecology.
In England, in 1390, a law was enacted restricting the use of ferrets for hunting:
... it is ordained that no manner of layman which hath not lands to the value of forty shillings a year [the equivalent of about £1,000 in today's money] 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.
Ferrets were first introduced into the New World 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 invading rodents.
Sources : deerland.org
The hare was wounded by 2 rifles, and still almost outran the dogs, but lost too much blood to continue in the end.
I publish it without sound, so you will not hear the guns and dogs, the last things that brave hare heard that day . .
I also publish this under a gray veil, as a tribute to the brave hare who died that day.
And no, not because I am so sentimental, some of my friends hunt, but just to give this one hare a platform, since so many of them die unseen like this every day . .
I do appreciate hunting is a necessity, but how you can call this a sport, beats me . .
If you have a weak stomach or simply love animals, don't play this video.
For those of you that have no problem seeing the footage : press L
Picture: Naughty but Lovely
Born in Australia, now Thai nationality
The ferret is a domestic mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Domestic ferrets typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur, are predators, have an average length of approximately 20 inches (51 cm) including a 5 inch (13 cm) tail, weigh about 1.5-4 pounds (0.8-2 kg) (males are typically substantially larger than the females),[1] and have a natural lifespan of 7 to 10 years.[2][3][4]
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, but it is not certain for what purpose the ferret was originally domesticated. 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.
Source from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferret