Notes on Ferrets and Weasels

I wasn’t sure of the answer to Rachel’s question, so I looked it up.

Ferrets are a kind of domesticated weasel considered to be a subspecies of the European polecat. I believe it would be most accurate to say that the weasel:ferret relationship is analogous to wolf:dog. In both cases, the domesticated animal can interbreed with the feral animal, and they are considered by scientists to be the same species.

There is an animal called the Black-footed ferret which lives in California and has a separate species name, so my assumption would be that it is not the same as the weasel, but is a member of a larger genus (Mustela), which “includes the polecats, ferrets, weasels and many other species of small, fur-bearing carnivores found around the world.”

Here is a description of the biological family: “The domestic ferret, together with the polecats, is classified in the biological family Mustelidae, the group that also includes nine carnivore species that are native to California, including the ermine, mink, badger, and otters.”

Both quotes were pulled from the California Department of Fish and Game’s website.