AnimalvsAnimal
Ilder🦡

Photo: Malene Thyssen · CC BY-SA 3.0

SpeciesCarnivoraMustelidae
Carnivores

🦡European polecat

Mustela putorius Linnaeus, 1758

Der Europäische Iltis, Waldiltis (Mustela putorius), auch bekannt als Gemeiner Iltis, Schwarzer oder Waldiltis, Europäisches Frettchen, oder wildes Frettchen, auch Ratz oder Stänker sowie Fiss genannt, ist eine Raubtierart aus der Familie der Marder (Mustelidae). Der Iltis wurde von Pro Natura als Tier des Jahres 2024 in der Schweiz gewählt.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
2
Photos
1
Measurements
13
vs you
≈ 1/77th of your weight
Also called
Mustela putorius, Western Polecat, western polecat, polecat
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2016.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
0.81 kg
Body length
0.41 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
14 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the European polecat

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.81 kg
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 0.81 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
0.41 m
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Brain mass
8.71 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
14 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 11 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length
4.52 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
309 days
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
41 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 42 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size
about 8
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 7.5AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic level
Carnivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Crepuscular / mixed
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Home range
0.53 km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Population density
0.83 per km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
0.8 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for European polecat yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderCarnivora
  5. ›familyMustelidae
  6. ›genusMustela
  7. ›speciesMustela putorius
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  3. suborderCaniformia
  4. familyMustelidae
All 13 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderLaurasiatheria
  11. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  12. suborderCaniformia
  13. familyMustelidae
More

More about the European polecat

Closest relative on this site
🦡 Least weasel — last shared an ancestor ≈ 3.3 million years ago.
What it eats
warm-blooded animals50%
reptiles, fish and amphibians20%
fish20%
insects and other invertebrates10%
In other languages
ilder (nb), Mustela putorius (es), Mustela putorius (fr), tchoř tmavý (cs), Europäischer Iltis (de), hilleri (fi) … and 25 more languages

Tiere vor der Kamera

Echtes Filmmaterial von den Tieren dieser Website – beim Jagen, beim Kämpfen und beim ganz normalen Alltag.

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