Ermink

The ermink (Mustela erminison) is a large domesticated mustellid that has been bred over the millennia for their fur and as pets. They rose to fame during the early period of the First Solar Empire as a status symbol among the rising aristocratic landowners in the colonies, and continue to be associated with wealth and opulence, and of bought political power.

Fuzzy Tubes

Selectively bred over thousands of standard years, the ermink has become a relaxed, docile creature that has lost much of its wild instincts. They are curious and cuddly, content to sit around and be pet or to lie draped over the shoulders of their owners' shoulders. It takes an awful lot of pestering to make an ermink aggressive, making them an excellent pet, especially for small children.
Like their Terran ancestors, erminks are obligate carnivores relying exclusively on a diet of fresh meat and small animal bones. They lose the ability to digest milk early on in their life, though they remain fond of it throughout their lives. Their digestive tracts are completely incapable of digesting grains or vegetable matter, and attempting to force them to eat a vegan diet is considered animal cruelty. Egg is a favourite food of the ermink, but should be limited to occasional treats due to the high fat content.
Despite losing much of their wild instincts, ermink make excellent rat catchers due to their ability to chase rodents into burrows that larger carnivores can not fit into, though their status as a prestigious pet means that erminks are rarely kept specifically for hunting vermin.

Aristocratic Symbols

In Antiquity, the ermink was a very niche pet. The species' popularity rose sharply during the early colonial expansion of the First Solar Empire, when colonial land owners wanted to flaunt their new-found wealth and were looking for something expensive to show off. The relative rarity of the ermink, combined with its docility and its sleek fur, made it the perfect choice. For centuries, surging prices made the ermink the exclusive domain of the fledgling aristocracy. While prices has since fallen to levels that most citizens can afford, the ermink's association with the colonial aristocracy, along with their obscene displays of wealth and political corruption, endures to this day.