GENERAL EXTERNAL ANATOMY
The domestic ferret can be dark coated and dark eyed: the sable, “fitch-ferret” or “polecat-ferret,” in contrast to the albino (pink-eyed white) ferret, which is the other traditional color.
It has not been proved that the dark (sable) ferret is a product of a European polecat and white ferret mating (Owen 1984).The base of the ferret head is narrower than that of the polecat; when viewed from above it resembles an isosceles triangle while the face of the polecat makes an equilateral triangle. The sable ferret's face is interesting for its panda mask appearance. It is similar to the European polecat, having dark eyes ringed with brown hair and then cream-colored hair between the eyes and ears, and between the eyes and nose. The eyes are characteristically less prominent than in the native polecat. The nose is white, mottled with brown,
Small mammals
and the ears are small and set close to the head. Ferrets rely extensively on their sense of smell, even though they have efficient eyes and ears and typical cat-like tactile whiskers. Frances Pitt summed up the similarity of the ferret and polecat thus: “the ‘fitch' ferret bears in outward appearance the same relation to the polecat that a half-printed photograph bears to a fully printed one from the same negative” (Pitt 1921).
Ferrets can live for 6 to 10 years and reach sexual maturity at 6 to 9 months of age. The hobs (males) are more otterlike in shape and size whereas the smaller jills (females) are more weasel-like. The ferret has short legs with an elongated body. It stands with an arched back and is agile in movement, further arching its back when running. The adult hob ferret body length (including tail) averages 38 cm; the ferret jill is typically shorter at around 35 cm. Ferret hobs weigh 1000 to 2000 g and ferret jills 600 to 900 g. The diploid chromosome number is 40.