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*mustela putorius furo*
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(the ferret is the domesticated form of the ‘european polecat’, a mammal belonging to the same genus as the ‘weasel’ (“mustela”) of the family “mustelidae”)
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*they typically have [‘brown’ / ‘black’ / ‘white’ / ‘mixed’] fur*
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(they have an average length of 51 cm (20 in), including a 13 cm (5.1 in) tail, weigh about 1.5–4 pounds (0.7–2 kg), and have a natural lifespan of 7 – 10 years)
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(ferrets are ‘sexually dimorphic predators’ with males being substantially larger than ‘females’)
(several other ‘mustelids’ also have the word ferret in their common names, including an ‘endangered species’ –> “the black-footed ferret”)
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(the history of the ferret’s domestication is uncertain (like that of most other ‘domestic animals’), but it is likely that ‘ferrets’ have been ‘domesticated’ for at least ‘2500 years’)
(they are still used for hunting ‘rabbits’ in some parts of the world, but increasingly, they are kept only as ‘pets’)
(being so closely related to ‘pole-cats’, ferrets easily ‘hybridize’ with them, and this has occasionally resulted in ‘feral colonies’ of ‘polecat/ferret hybrids’ that have caused damage to ‘native fauna’, especially in ‘new zealand’)
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(as a result, some parts of the world have imposed restrictions on the keeping of ‘ferrets’)
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥