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The European polecat has definite home ranges that vary according to season, habitat, sex and social status. [54] Breeding females settle in discrete areas, whereas breeding males and dispersing juveniles have more fluid home ranges, and are more mobile. [ 55 ]
The European polecat population in Britain declined following widespread predator control, particularly in the late 19th century. Today, it has recolonised much of its former range. [23] In order to gauge the extent of this range expansion, the Trust has carried out three national polecat distribution surveys since the 1990s. [24]
The decline in marbled polecat populations thought to be due to habitat loss and reduction in available prey due to use of rodenticides. [14] [12] [15] Data revealed that from the west to the east, a gradual decrease in morphological diversity was seen in polecat skulls, thus giving location as a factor to diversify the polecats.
The main threats to black-footed polecats are disease, habitat loss, and human-introduced diseases. [13] The European polecat's main threat is vehicle collisions, and other threats include traps and poisoning through rats and other small mammals exposed to rodenticides. [14]
Steppe polecat: Southeast Europe and Northern Asia Southern Asia Mustela furo Linnaeus, 1758: Domestic ferret: Domestic Worldwide (domesticated); New Zealand (non-native) Mustela putorius Linnaeus, 1758: European polecat: Europe, North Africa and Northern Asia Mustela nigripes (Audubon and Bachman, 1851) Black-footed ferret: North America
Polecat is a common name for several mustelid species in the order Carnivora and subfamilies Ictonychinae [1] and Mustelinae. Polecats do not form a single taxonomic rank (i.e. clade ). The name is applied to several species with broad similarities to European polecats , such as having a dark mask-like marking across the face.
Today, some mustelids are threatened for other reasons. Sea otters are vulnerable to oil spills and the indirect effects of overfishing; the black-footed ferret, a relative of the European polecat, suffers from the loss of American prairie; and wolverine populations are slowly declining because of habitat destruction and persecution.
The black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes), also known as the American polecat [4] or prairie dog hunter, [5] is a species of mustelid native to central North America. The black-footed ferret is roughly the size of a mink and is similar in appearance to the European polecat and the Asian steppe polecat. It is largely nocturnal and solitary ...