CreatureData

Ferret

Mustela furo Linnaeus, 1758

Status not recordedmammals

The ferret (Mustela furo) is a species in the family Mustelidae, order Carnivora. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the ferret

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the ferret live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The ferret is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Why a country list is not a range map

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the ferret as introduced in 6 countries, and flagged as invasive in 3 of them.

  1. Irelandinvasive
  2. New Zealandinvasive
  3. United Kingdominvasive
  4. Australia
  5. France
  6. Spain

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the ferret endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the ferret classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classMammalia
  4. orderCarnivora
  5. familyMustelidae
  6. genusMustela
  7. SpeciesMustela furo Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms Mustela putorius f. furo, Mustela putorius furo

Other names and names in other languages (39)
  • Domestic ferretEnglish
  • Feral ferretEnglish
  • Polecat ferretEnglish
  • ابن مقرضArabic
  • FhuronAsturian
  • FuraCatalan
  • Afrički tvorcro
  • Fretka domácíCzech
  • FfuredWelsh
  • FrettGerman
  • ΦέρετGreek
  • HurónSpanish
  • FrettiFinnish
  • FuretFrench
  • חמוֹס הביתHebrew
  • vadászgörényHungarian
  • FrettaIcelandic
  • FurettoItalian
  • フェレットJapanese
  • 페럿Korean
  • FuronMirandese
  • FritteNorwegian Bokmål
  • FretDutch
  • FretkaPolish
  • FurãoPortuguese
  • ФуроRussian
  • Beli dihurSlovak
  • เฟอเรทThai
  • ФреткаUkrainian
  • 貂貂Chinese
  • FrettchenGerman
  • Hurón domésticoSpanish
  • 페렛Korean
  • 페릿Korean
  • tamilderNorwegian Bokmål
  • Fretka domowaPolish
  • Furão-domésticoPortuguese
  • Домашний хорёкRussian
  • Тхір домашнійUkrainian

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the ferret

Other species in the same genus Mustela.

LC, Least Concern
Stoat (Mustela erminea)

Stoat

Mustela erminea

Mustelidae

CompareFerret vs Least weaselFerret vs StoatFerret vs European polecatFerret vs European mink

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Where does the ferret live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the ferret for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the ferret an invasive species?

In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the ferret as invasive in 3 countries: Ireland, New Zealand and United Kingdom. It lists it as introduced in 6 in all.

What kind of animal is the ferret?

The ferret (Mustela furo) belongs to the family Mustelidae in the order Carnivora.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Ferret (Mustela furo). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/ferret

MLA

“Ferret (Mustela furo).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/ferret.

BibTeX
@misc{ferret_2026,
  title = {Ferret (Mustela furo)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/ferret},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}