European Polecat
| Latin Name | Mustela putorius putorius |
|---|---|
| Class | Mammals |
| Order | Carnivora |
| IUCN Status | Least Concern |
| Habitat | Lowland areas below 500m, woods, forest, riverbanks, sand dunes and farms |
| Distribution | Throughout Europe and Northern Africa but absent in Ireland |
General Information
A solitary and mainly nocturnal animal with a dark brown pelage and cream underbelly. It has a distinctive dark banded facial mask. Polecats hunt for small rodents, birds and amphibians.
Young are born in early summer in a litter of 2 to 5 kits.
The European Polecat is slowly increasing in numbers and range in the UK after rigorous persecution by gamekeepers.
Fun Fact
Polecat actually derives from the nickname ‘Poulet-chat’ from the French meaning Chicken-Cat (hencat or poultry-cat) as wild polecats have a habit of breaking into chicken farms. Then farmers realized they could encourage these creatures to keep the rats away and they became quite friendly … the beginning of the domestic ferret!
Keeper Notes
Our two male polecats are called Stark and Snow, both of them are very mischievous and love investigating anything new that we keepers bring into their enclosure - even knocking over our buckets when we are half way through cleaning!