Ferrets
In Redwall
- Alignment: Evil
- Appearance: Ferrets are like the ones in our world except bipedal
and they wear clothes. I'd imagine they have a bit shorter of bodies,
as it doesn't seem possible for a ferret from our world to stand upright all
the time.
- Diet: Ferrets eat anything, from meat to the vegetarian food most
goodbeasts eat, although they prefer meat.
- Typical Personality: Ferrets are a more intelligent species of
vermin - crafty and often cruel. They tend to be leaders in many
vermin armies, or at least well up in rank.
Outside Redwall
- Classification: Species: Mustela putorius
- Other Names: European ferret; ferret; polecat*
- Appearance: Ferrets are long-bodied, slender, and lithe. They
are about 15" to 19" long, including their 5-7" tail, and
weigh around 3-5 pounds. Often they have a yellowish patch on their
face, though the rest of their body is brown or dark brown.
- Life Span: Ferrets live up to 14 years.
- Diet: Most ferrets often raid rabbit hutches and chicken coops,
though they also eat mice, rats, voles, and other such small rodents.
- Habitat: Ferrets usually live in cavities under tree roots or in
stream banks. They are mainly found in woodlands, farmlands, and
wetlands.
- Typical Personality: Ferrets are playful, curious, and aggressive
fighters.
- Habits: Ferrets are nocturnal. When they bite, they don't let
go - ferrets lock their jaws and it's hard to get them to let go even after
they die. They have strong musk glands used for both defense and as a
warning to intruders.
- Life Cycle: Ferrets breed once a year between May and June, and
have one litter a year of three to four pups. The pups are weaned
after one month and leave their mother at three months of age.
- Sites for Further Research:
*Note: Polecats and ferrets have the same scientific name and are,
indeed, extremely closely related. They often interbreed and the
relationship between ferrets and polecats is similar to that between dogs and
wolves, only closer. They are too closely related for there to be any need
for two separate pages on polecats and ferrets.