AnimalvsAnimal
Ilder🦡

Photo: Malene Thyssen · CC BY-SA 3.0

SpeciesCarnivoraMustelidae
Carnivores

🦡European polecat

Mustela putorius Linnaeus, 1758

ヨーロッパケナガイタチ (Mustela putorius) は、ユーラシア西部と北アフリカに分布するイタチ科イタチ属の種。体色は一般的に濃い茶色で、下腹部が薄く、顔全体に暗色の部分がある。時折、アルビノ、白変種、イザベラ変種、黄変種、アメラニズム、赤変種などの突然変異を生じる。

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

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