"Kethem"
Ferret
"Kethem"
Ferret
Ferrets are mammals belonging to the weasel family. The Weasel family, Mustelidae, is composed of 67 species of long, slender-bodied, short-legged, vigorous mammals. Found on all continents except Antarctica and Australia in nearly all habitats, weasels are the world's most widespread carnivores. The family includes the true weasels, such as the ermine, ferret, fisher, marten, mink, polecat, and wolverine, and also the otter, skunk, badger, and honey badger.The ferret of Europe is the domesticated form of the polecat Mustela putorius. Since ancient times the ferret has been used to kill rats and to drive rabbits from their burrows. The ferret was sent down to chase the rabbit out of the burrow, this is where the expression "to ferret out" originated, which means to uncover something hidden.
Domestic ferrets are the offspring of the European polecat. When sattacked by enemies such as dogs or foxes ferrets puff up their fur and snares--similar to a cat. The ferret may then turn around and squirt a pungent musk at its attacker.
Prairies, meadows and forest zones of Asia, N. Africa and Europe (Except Scandinavia). There is also an endangered pecies in N. America (Wyoming).
In the wild, ferrets live in underground burrows abandoned by other animals. They are nocturnal hunmters and primarily sleep during the day.
Ferrets are primarily carnivorous eating rates, mice, rabbits, snakes, frogs, moles, fish, insects, fruits and even vegetables.
Ferrets hunt and live alone, except during the mating season which occurs from March to June. Gestation lasts about 42 days when the jills (female ferrets) give virth to a litter of 3 to 7 kits or kittens. The young open their eyes at approximatley 10 days and reach sexual maturity within 1 year.
3 to 5 years in the wild and up to 10 years in captivity.
The black-footed ferret of the western United States is M. nigripes. It relys primarily on prairie dogs and probably has since the time its ancestors entered N. America from Siberia via the Bering land bridge. The ferret eats prairie dogs almost exclusively and dens in their vacant burrows. Its original range coincides almost exactly to those of the prairie dogs.
Due to loss of habitat and food source, the black-footed ferret was thought to be extinct until 1981 when a small population was found near Meeteetse, Wyoming. Their numbers fluctuated around 128 until 1984, when for unkown reasons, the population dropped to 50. In 1986, an outbreak of canine distemper nearly wiped out the black-footed ferret species with only 18 animals survivng. To save the species, they were captured and housed in a captive breeding station. The recovery plan calls for increasing the captive bredding popualtion to 200 breeding adults before any are relased into the wild. this is just one of several Species Survival Plans (SSP) that are in effect around the globe, to prevent the extinction of many endangered species. In 1990, the population had reached 182. Conservationists are working to educate ranchers who are opposed to releasing the ferrets, aswell as preparing a tract of government land to be able to safely release the ferrets. The first small populations were released in 1991. Some people raise ferrets for their soft fur called "fitch" which is used for making coats.
Compton's New Media, Inc., 1993