Someone had emailed me, asking questions about ferrets in Shanghai so I was just trying to find some answers via Google and I came across a link which said “Headshot of Grey Ferret With Attractive Face”.
That really took my interest so I clicked on it and came across this picture …



Picture Source: schani
and Animal Photos!

I know it kinda looks like a ferret but it’s obviously not one, and I wish people would check that they have the right species of animal before tagging it.

Another of the tags for this picture was “zoo”, so if this picture was taken of an animal in a zoo, and the zoo called it a ferret then that is doubly bad.  
The reason it annoys me is because it helps to perpetuate the myth that a ferret is a wild animal – it isn’t, and so perhaps people should be sure that they have the right tag for their animal before putting it up for all to see.
It’s a great photo but it’s a picture of an ichneumon, also known as a ““Pharaoh’s rat”.  I spoke about the ichneumon in my section about Ferrets in Ancient Times because I was trying to find proof that ferrets were around during ancient Egyptian times, like some people claim, and I honestly think that, like this picture, the ichneumon was mistaken for a ferret in those days too.
I must say seeing such a clear photo of the head, it does look remarkably like a ferret but when you see the whole body, like on this Spanish site which is all about “El Meloncillo” (the ichneumon), you’ll see that it’s really nothing like a ferret.

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