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What is a ferret?The ferret is a small sleek fur-bearing mammal that belongs to the same Family as the otter, weasel, wolverine, and mink. Ferrets weigh from 1 to 5 pounds at maturity. Males are called hobs, females are jills, and baby ferrets are kits. Adult males are generally 2 to 3 times larger than females.
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Female [L]; Male [R]
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Domestic Ferrets
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Our pet ferrets are domestic animals. Records of ferret domestication go back to about 2500 BC. Humans domesticated the ferret to help protect against rodents (rats and mice).
Today there are between 7 and 10 million domestic ferrets in the United States, making the ferret the third most popular interactive companion animal after dogs and cats. They are kept as pets and are also used as a laboratory species. In some cases they are used as working animals. Hunting with ferrets is illegal in North America. Ferrets can have many different coat colors. Classification (taxonomy) of the domestic ferret
The following represents the scientific classification of the domestic (pet) ferret:
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora - (meat-eating, includes cats, dogs, bears, raccoons, weasels, etc.) Family: Mustelidae (Sub-Family: Mustelinae - includes martens, mink, and weasels) Genus: Mustela Species: M. putorius putorius - European polecat ferret Subscpecies: M. putrorius furo - Domestic ferret Latin bionomial: "Mustela putorius furo" means "weasel-like stinky thief." |
Different coat colors and markings of the Domestic Ferret - Chart courtesy of Marshall Farms
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Wild Ferrets
black-footed ferret of north america
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The North-American Black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) is a wild animal.
It is a different species from the domestic Ferret. (Domestic Ferrets are not found in the wild.) Unlike the domestic Ferret, the wild black-footed ferret is nocturnal: they sleep during the day and hunt at night. |
The black-footed ferret is listed in the US as an Endangered Species. It is one of the rarest mammals on the North American Continent. At one point it was thought to be extinct.
One reason for the decline of the wild ferrets is the reduction of the prairie dog populations - the main diet of the black-footed ferret. Due to federal and state Species Survival programs, today there several thousand black-footed ferret that exist in the wild. |
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Facial Close-up of Black-Footed Ferret
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Black-footed ferrets emerging[North America]
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Black-Footed Ferret Body Coloration
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Prairie Dogs are ~ 90% of the black-footed ferret's diet.
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wild cousins
The Domestic Ferret has many wild cousins. The closest relative to our pet ferrets is the European polecat which ranges through Europe and the United Kingdom.
Wolverine (Gulo gulo)
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Honey Badger (Mellivora Capensis}
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Siberian weasel (Mustela Sibirica)
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In North America, the native black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) is an endangered species. The marbled polecat (Vormela peregusna) has a range from South-Eastern Europe, Russia. The Steppe polecat (Mustela eversmanii) lives in the Russian steppes, and ranges from Central-Eastern Europe to China. Northern Africa has the striped zorrilla (Ictonyx striatus) and the honey badger. Grisons (Galictis cuja) live on the South American continent.
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