Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Carnivora > Mustelidae > Mustela > Mustela putorius

Mustela putorius (European Polecat)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

The European polecat (Mustela putorius) — also known as the black or forest polecat, or fitch (as well as some other names) — is a species of mustelid native to western Eurasia and North Africa. It is of a generally dark brown colour, with a pale underbelly and a dark mask across the face. Occasionally, colour mutations, including albinos and erythrists, occur. Compared to minks and other weasels — also fellow members of the genus Mustela — the polecat has a shorter, more compact body; a more powerfully built skull and dentition; is less agile; and it is well known for having the characteristic ability to secrete a particularly foul-smelling liquid to mark its territory.
View Wikipedia Record: Mustela putorius

Infraspecies

Mustela putorius anglia
Mustela putorius aureola
Mustela putorius caledoniae
Mustela putorius furo (Domestic polecat)
Mustela putorius mosquensis
Mustela putorius putorius (European polecat)
Mustela putorius rothschildi

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
2
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
19
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 6.34
EDGE Score: 1.99
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Gestation [2]  42 days
Litter Size [2]  8
Litters / Year [2]  2
Maximum Longevity [2]  11 years
Nocturnal [1]  Yes
Snout to Vent Length [4]  16 inches (41 cm)
Water Biome [1]  Lakes and Ponds, Rivers and Streams
Weaning [2]  63 days
Adult Weight [2]  1.784 lbs (809 g)
Birth Weight [2]  10 grams
Male Weight [4]  2.083 lbs (945 g)
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Piscivore
Diet - Ectothermic [3]  20 %
Diet - Endothermic [3]  50 %
Diet - Fish [3]  20 %
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  10 %
Forages - Ground [3]  100 %
Female Maturity [2]  10 months 12 days
Male Maturity [2]  10 months 22 days

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

+ Click for partial list (100)Full list (210)

Ecosystems

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Caucasus Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia, Turkey No
Mediterranean Basin Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Portugal, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey No

Prey / Diet

Prey / Diet Overlap

Predators

Corvus corax (Northern Raven)[5]

Consumers

Range Map

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 2de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 5Ecology of Commanster
♦ 6Anurans as prey: an exploratory analysis and size relationships between predators and their prey, L. F. Toledo, R. S. Ribeiro & C. F. B. Haddad, Journal of Zoology 271 (2007) 170–177
♦ 7Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
♦ 8International Flea Database
♦ 9Nunn, C. L., and S. Altizer. 2005. The Global Mammal Parasite Database: An Online Resource for Infectious Disease Records in Wild Primates. Evolutionary Anthroplogy 14:1-2.
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0