Is a ferret a weasel or a rodent?

I am not sure. It looks like exactly like a weasel but I am told it is a rodentIs a ferret a weasel or a rodent?
According to wikipedia, it's in the same genus as a weasel.





Genus: mustela





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferret





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel





Ferret scientific classification:


Kingdom: Animalia


Phylum: Chordata


Class: Mammalia


Order: Carnivora


Family: Mustelidae


Genus: Mustela


Species: M. putorius


Subspecies: M. p. furo





Weasel scientific classification


Kingdom: Animalia


Phylum: Chordata


Class: Mammalia


Order: Carnivora


Family: Mustelidae


Subfamily: Mustelinae


Genus: Mustela





Rodent scientific classification:


Kingdom: Animalia


Phylum: Chordata


Class: Mammalia


Infraclass: Eutheria


Superorder: Euarchontoglires


Order: Rodentia





Ferrets and rodents don't appear to be very related except both are mammals?Is a ferret a weasel or a rodent?
Ferrets are Mustelids, which means they are in the same family as weasels, minks, otters, badgers, and wolverines.





Anyone who says ';a ferret is a rodent'; hasn't bothered to take a good look at the dentition (teeth). And they certainly haven't been bitten by them.





Having been bitten by both ferrets and hamsters, I can most definitely tell you - ferrets are NOT rodents.
Both Lavender and Nandina are correct. Ferrets are in Carnivora; they are not rodents.





Taxonomically, primates -- including us humans -- are actually a lot closer to rodents than members of carnivora are.





The branch of Carnivora that ferrets belong to does also contain weasels, mink, martins, otters, wolverines, fishers, etc. and arose from the Canid (dog) portion of Carnivora only about 30 million years ago, making it the most recent off-shoot. Rather quickly the Mustelids tended to be sinuous like most current mustelids but some of the very earliest pretty well showed their possible relationship to bears by being quite large (one was as large as a puma) and bulkier.





Frankly, I think that you are very observant and should trust your judgement if is usually as good as it was on this score.





The people who think that ferrets are rodents are simply not noticing characteristics at all well.





Have you considered a possible future in biology?