Ferrets as pets

Ferrets as Pets

The Ferret’s Dook

 Questions often asked are, “What is a ferret dook?” or “What does it sound like when a ferret is dooking?”  It’s difficult to describe, actually.  It’s an excited, almost always happy ferret sound that reminds me of how it sounds when humans’ giggle.  In fact, every ferret I’ve ever been around gets really excited when they hear me giggle.  I wonder if they think that I’m dooking with them.  So Google and YouTube worked together to find us a video illustrating a Ferrets Dook!

 

Ferret pupils are HORIZONTAL!

Imagine that, huh? Several species of animals have horizontal pupils, but although our search is ongoing, we haven’t found any land-bound predators with horizontal pupils other than ferrets! Other animals with horizontal pupils include some rays, flying frogs, mongooses and artiodactyls such as sheepelkred deer,reindeer and hippopotamus, as well as the domestic horse.

We lucked out and got a photo of Mushi-shi that shows his horizontal pupils. You already know that a predator’s eyes are located in front of its face, looking ahead as opposed to prey animal eyes being located on the sides of their face. So here’s what science has learned about pupil shape. Vertical pupils are common to smaller predators (our house-cat) that lie in wait and ambush their prey. Round pupils are common to large predators (us, tigers, wolves). Even though horizontal pupils are typical to prey animals, ferrets are more likely to dance up close to prey and then chase it down. Because if their small size, horizontal pupils are well suited for their lifestyle. Want to learn more about animal eyes?     Read more from NPR…

OH! The reason Mushi’s photo is a video is because it’s also a recording of his dooking. Turn up the volume.

 

The Ferret War Dance

 The next most often question is, “What is a ferret war dance?”  Simply put, it’s Pure Joy!  Once again, our good friends, Google and YouTube provide a great rendition of the Ferret War Dance!  There is little that can make a ferret happier than to find that their human will war dance with them.  Just do be careful.  Be mindful of your feet because your ferret can dart under your feet unexpectedly.

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