Marbled Polecat (Vormela peregusna) peeking out of his burrow
Marbled Polecat
Reproduction:
In
breeding season, males will sometimes change colors, from yellow to orange,
making their colors brighter and more vivid. The normally solitary polecat
will join up only during the breeding season during March to May. The
marbled polecat has delayed implantation, causing them to not give birth for
eight to eleven months after mating. Their actual gestation period,
though, lasts for forty days, or about two months. They can have up to
eight young in a litter. The female polecat cares for her young in a nest
of grass and leaves in her burrow. The kits' eyes open when they are forty
days old, but they are able to start eating solids at thirty days. The young stay with the mother for about
three months. Females reach sexual maturity at just three months of age,
but males take more time to grow larger, reaching sexual maturity at one year.
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Behavior:
The marbled polecats are
mostly nocturnal and crepuscular, although they are sometimes active during the
day. The marbled polecat will burrow
underground, either in burrows that it digs itself or old burrows from previous
animals, where it will have an area off the main burrow for storing food. Their sense of
smell is well adapted for finding rodents and other food. When threatened,
they will stand on their hind legs with their tails in the air and their teeth
showing, growl, and spray their scents at the threat. They are actually
good climbers, but they stay mostly on the ground. One study done on wild
polecats found that they travel a good distance at night. They were
recorded traveling one kilometer per night, rarely taking the same path each
time.
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