Young Marbled Polecat (Vormela peregusna) in box
Marbled Polecat
Diet:
The marbled polecat eats a variety of foods,
consisting of beetles, snails, rodents, small birds, lizards, eggs, small
rabbits, fish, and sometimes fruit. Its population will vary depending on
the availability of these food supplies.
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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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