They have been domesticated and used as a working animal for over 3000 years. They were first domesticated for rodent eradication. But have further been developed and are used for rabbiting. In rabbiting, the ferret is not suppose to kill the rabbit. Its suppose to go down a rabbit hole and drag the rabbit back up to the surface.
It is key that the ferret not kill the rabbit.
And I assume like most predators, the young has to be taught by the parent how to hunt and survive.
Excluding the cats' natural instinct to kill. Though, since cats are so instinctual, they are able to go feral so quickly and easily. Where as there have been no known feral ferret populations in history. Studies show that it would be fairly difficult for a domesticated ferret (especially in the US) to go feral.
The ferrets' wild counterpart, the European polecat, is everything a wild weasel is. They're the wolves to dogs in regards to ferrets. While they can interbreed to produce a hybrid, their adult behaviors are very different from each other. A ferret retains the juvenile traits of their wild ancestors, which is generally what the domestication process does.
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