"It's a what, you said?" the man's roommate asked.

"A bassarisk! It's the only animal other than cats to self-domesticate, and now we've started taking advantage of that!"

"That sounds a lot like basilisk, but I must admit it's adorable. And look at that tail! It's as long as its body!"

"Yeah, that's what got this particular species of bassarisk its name, the ringtail."

"So it's a lemur, then?" the roommate asked with a quizzical expression.

"Are there any lemurs native to North America?"

The roommate facepalmed. "Not a lemur, then. So what is it?"

"A procyonid, related to raccoons."

"Why didn't we try to domesticate raccoons, then?"

"Because unlike this cutie, they didn't domesticate themselves when humans moved into their territory."

"Gotcha. And you say this is a better mouser than cats?"

"Yup. It's also called a ring-tailed cat, and in the 19th century, when these domesticated themselves in miner's towns, 'ring-tailed' was American slang for 'remarkable' and 'exceptional'. So they were basically saying it was an 'exceptional' cat."

"Okay, I guess we can keep it, so long as it doesn't destroy the furniture. But please, why couldn't you have just gotten a cat?"