So where’s the deadbeat ferret dad? That is, if he could be located might not he be the dragged in target to do babysitting duty (if he were otherwise off operating the TV remote)?
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The ferret thinks the ole pale finger is another ferret baby. That’s the explanation from my behavioral veterinarian partner. Quote: “ferrets are so stupid”
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There is another ferret on the level below. Might be the dad. Maybe mama is trying to get the human to protect her babies from The Ferret Below.
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Or maybe just very focused on their role as Hunter-Killers?
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“Come and see the most beautiful babies in the world !” …I am happy I’m not friend with that ferret mom on facebook right now.
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Skulls for the Skull Crib!
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There’s another line of thought I’ve seen in animal behaviour research that says, “go with your anthropomorphic explanations until you prove otherwise”. I kind of like that one since its (a) relatable and (b) probably just as valid since we’re biased anyway. So assume the animal is more or less thinking like you until you get proved wrong, it is kind of going with what you know. 
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Maybe she feels like the human is the dad and wants him to get to know his pups!
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“Oh… Oh god… Oh man… no more Ambian for me.”
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Wait, is that coming from the human dad or the ferret mama? 
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They have a very strong subroutine to return their babies to the nest. Subroutine is triggered by the pink baby-like fingers, so it gets executed.
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It’s not a bad idea and I quite like it. It can go too far though. There’s a couple of examples in this thread lol. But ‘anthropomorphism’ is often used to disqualify common sense conclusions like animals moving away from painful stimuli because they can feel pain. Which can’t be proven but is more likely than animals being dumb automatons responding to things as if they’re programmed with algorithms. Also, why can’t the algorithm be: feel stimuli, trigger adverse emotional reaction (ouch), move away?
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I’m all for (reasonable) anthopomorhism, but it might be a reflex instinct for moving babies back to the nest. The fingers are about the same size and shape as her babies. A similar behaviour in geese is a classic example from animal behaviour science. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_action_pattern#Egg-retrieval_behaviour
Remember, ferrets are colourblind.
I’d like to think the ferret has to be smarter than that. However, animals are capable of demonstrating some pretty amazing [what we might call] stupidity -
If you gather a bunch of Eucalyptus leaves, which the koalas eat, and put them on a plate in front of the koala, the koala won’t know what to do with them
Mustelids are apex predators, animals don’t achieve that position in the food chain by being stupid; that’s the preyed-on’s position in life.
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Context is everything. Leaves grow on trees, not plates.
You’re safe if you’re not an apex.
Humans have always of course been both predator and prey; sometimes you’re lucky/smart enough to eat the bar, sometimes the bar is lucky/smart enough, and it eats you.
