Subject: Polecats, skunks and ferrets
>In the US we call the skunk a polecat, however in Europe, Asia and Africa
>the name polecat is applied to several weasel like animals includeing the
>European Polecat "Mustela Putorius", the ferret is "Mustela Putorius Furo"
>which probably tells you the polecat and the ferret are awfully darned
>similar.
 
If you get cable and have the Discovery Channel, be on the lookout for a
couple of different shows that I've seen that have featured mustelids.  The
best one I saw was from a series on animals of the former Soviet Union.  The
series was called "The Empire of the Red Bear" or something like that.  It
had one episode devoted solely to mustelids.  Minks, weasels, polecats, etc.
were featured.  I nearly freaked out when they showed a mother European
Polecat and her brood of young and adventurous kits.  The polecats were the
spitting image (or should that be the other way around!) of our oldest
fuzz-head, Squirt.  Squirt is a dark sable and the resemblance was uncanny.
(They showed the young kits having a great time pestering, hunting, and
catching a water vole.  It looked more like playing than actual hunting.)
 
This episode was incredibly fascinating.  It also showed a victory dance
that some variety of weasel/ermine does after a kill.  According to the
narrator, this is the only animal outside of man to celebrate a kill.  (I
dunno...the narrator never saw our kids successfully attacking our feet!)
The weirdest fact I picked up was that some variety of ermine females are
nearly always in some state of pregnancy.  As kits (before their eyes even
open) they can be impregnated.  The pregnancy stays in some what of a limbo
state until they come of age.
 
Anyways...be on the look out for shows on our ferrets' wild cousins!
Sometimes it's amazing how many traits or remnants of traits they share.
 
-kim, mike, Squirt ("Vole? Nahh.....maybe melon."), Pippi ("Muhaha! Kill 'da
socks!"), Atlas (teaches at the Fred Astaire School of War Dancing), and
Hijinx ("Voles? Nahhh....maybe mom's arm.")
 
Kimberly Burkard     |             _    Everything I needed to know in life, I
Eastman Kodak Company|      _____C .._. learned from my ferret:
Rochester, New York  | ____/     \___/  Frolic and dance for joy often, have
[log in to unmask]<____/\_---\_\    no fear or worries, and enjoy life.
(!!!NEW ADDRESS!!!)
[Posted in FML issue 1300]