From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2005-08-25 23:08:43 UTC
Subject: RE: Deaf ferret question
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <1999117.1125011323701.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
The most talkative ferret we had could hear low pitched sounds but not high pitched ones.
The sounds she made so much? High pitched.
If anyone accidently used too high pitched a voice to talk to her she'd get a quizzical look on her face and put a paw to the person's lips as if trying to figure out if sound really was coming out.
Like many deaf ferrets she had neural crest variation markings, in her case a head blaze, and extraneous spotting elsewhere.
Interestingly, unlike most ferrets she was one who could see a wider range of colors*, and had a passion for blue. Her stashes would often be composed entirely of blue objects. We could barely keep blue decorations on a holiday tree. Plus, she had a favorite human hair scrunchie -- blue of course -- that she would roll over her head and parade around in like it was a prize collar. That went on for so many years until she lost her sight that we could smell her on that scrunchie long after she passed away. While her sight was going we would shine a bright flashlight through a blue plastic so that she could see it. (Mammals of many species who have any of range of neural crest genetic variations have a somewhat increased rate of cardiomyopathy esp. hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and that is what took her.)
* Most ferrets are thought to see only black through white and maybe reds, but there is a lot of variation among individuals
Author wrote:
> Do deaf ferrets dook at all or make noises like a ferret with normal
> hearing?
> Ulrike