139-429: The European polecat ( Mustela putorius ), also known as the common polecat , black polecat and forest polecat , is a mustelid species native to western Eurasia and North Africa. It is of a generally dark brown colour, with a pale underbelly and a dark mask across the face. Occasionally, colour mutations including albinos , leucists , isabellinists , xanthochromists , amelanists , and erythrists occur. It has
278-472: A constant rate. These " molecular clocks ", however, are fallible, and provide only approximate timing: for example, they are not sufficiently precise and reliable for estimating when the groups that feature in the Cambrian explosion first evolved, and estimates produced by different techniques may vary by a factor of two. Organisms are only rarely preserved as fossils in the best of circumstances, and only
417-416: A diverse family of carnivoran mammals, including weasels , badgers , otters , polecats , martens , grisons , and wolverines . Otherwise known as mustelids ( / ˈ m ʌ s t ɪ l ɪ d z / ), they form the largest family in the suborder Caniformia of the order Carnivora with about 66 to 70 species in nine subfamilies. Mustelids vary greatly in size and behaviour. The smaller variants of
556-426: A fraction of such fossils have been discovered. This is illustrated by the fact that the number of species known through the fossil record is less than 5% of the number of known living species, suggesting that the number of species known through fossils must be far less than 1% of all the species that have ever lived. Because of the specialized and rare circumstances required for a biological structure to fossilize, only
695-499: A hierarchical classification system still in use today. Darwin and his contemporaries first linked the hierarchical structure of the tree of life with the then very sparse fossil record. Darwin eloquently described a process of descent with modification, or evolution, whereby organisms either adapt to natural and changing environmental pressures, or they perish. When Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or
834-418: A mid-Ordovician age. Such index fossils must be distinctive, be globally distributed and occupy a short time range to be useful. Misleading results are produced if the index fossils are incorrectly dated. Stratigraphy and biostratigraphy can in general provide only relative dating ( A was before B ), which is often sufficient for studying evolution. However, this is difficult for some time periods, because of
973-536: A most unenviable fame, having been long celebrated as one of the most noxious pests to which the farmyard is liable. Slightly smaller than the marten, and not quite so powerful, it is found to be a more deadly enemy to rabbits, game and poultry, than any other animal its size. European polecat hunting was once a favourite sport of the Westmorland dalesmen and the Scots , who hunted them at night in midwinter. However,
1112-536: A mutation first appeared. Phylogenetics and paleontology work together in the clarification of science's still dim view of the appearance of life and its evolution. Niles Eldredge 's study of the Phacops trilobite genus supported the hypothesis that modifications to the arrangement of the trilobite's eye lenses proceeded by fits and starts over millions of years during the Devonian . Eldredge's interpretation of
1251-584: A negative reputation. References to the polecat in early English literature are often vilifying, usually being synonymous with prostitutes and generally immoral people, as is the case in Shakespeare 's The Merry Wives of Windsor : "Out of my door, you witch, you hag, you baggage, you polecat, you runyon!" In some rural areas, the belief persists that the polecat chews off the ears of sleeping sheep and can paralyse or kill men by jumping on them from behind and biting their necks. However, in some regions, it
1390-570: A portion of the deceased organism, usually that portion that was partially mineralized during life, such as the bones and teeth of vertebrates , or the chitinous or calcareous exoskeletons of invertebrates . Fossils may also consist of the marks left behind by the organism while it was alive, such as animal tracks or feces ( coprolites ). These types of fossil are called trace fossils or ichnofossils , as opposed to body fossils . Some fossils are biochemical and are called chemofossils or biosignatures . Gathering fossils dates at least to
1529-561: A result, the normal gestation period is extended, sometimes up to a year. This allows the young to be born under favourable environmental conditions. Reproduction has a large energy cost, so it is to a female's benefit to have available food and mild weather. The young are more likely to survive if birth occurs after previous offspring have been weaned . Mustelids are predominantly carnivorous, although some eat vegetable matter at times. While not all mustelids share an identical dentition , they all possess teeth adapted for eating flesh, including
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#17327797582711668-400: A richly diverse assembly of early multicellular eukaryotes . The fossil record and faunal succession form the basis of the science of biostratigraphy or determining the age of rocks based on embedded fossils. For the first 150 years of geology , biostratigraphy and superposition were the only means for determining the relative age of rocks. The geologic time scale was developed based on
1807-458: A shorter, more compact body than other Mustela species, a more powerfully built skull and dentition, is less agile, and is well known for having the characteristic ability to secrete a particularly foul-smelling liquid to mark its territory. It is much less territorial than other mustelids, with animals of the same sex frequently sharing home ranges. Like other mustelids, the European polecat
1946-448: A small percentage of life-forms can be expected to be represented in discoveries, and each discovery represents only a snapshot of the process of evolution. The transition itself can only be illustrated and corroborated by transitional fossils, which will never demonstrate an exact half-way point. The fossil record is strongly biased toward organisms with hard-parts, leaving most groups of soft-bodied organisms with little to no role. It
2085-437: A smaller cranial volume, and has a narrower postorbital constriction. Compared to the European polecat, the ferret has a much smaller brain, though this comparison has not been made with Mediterranean polecats, from which ferrets likely derive. The theory of a Mediterranean origin is further strengthened because the ferret is less tolerant of cold than northern polecat subspecies. Unlike other subspecies, which are largely solitary,
2224-423: A trend of size increase along an east–west axis. Males measure 350–460 mm (14–18 in) in body length and females are 290–394 mm (11–16 in). The tail measures 115–167 mm in males and 84–150 mm in females. Adult males in middle Europe weigh 1,000–1,500 grams (35–53 oz) and females 650–815 grams (23–29 oz). Gigantism is known among polecats, but specimens exhibiting this are likely
2363-585: A variant of the Old English ful , meaning "foul". In Middle English, the species was referred to as foumart , meaning "foul marten", in reference to its strong odour. In Old French , the polecat was called fissau , which was derived from the Low German and Scandinavian verb for "to make a disagreeable smell". This was later corrupted in English as fitchew or fitchet , which itself became
2502-574: Is Corumictis wolsani from the early and late Oligocene (early and late Arikareean , Ar1–Ar3) of Oregon . Middle Oligocene Mustelictis from Europe might be a mustelid, as well. Other early fossils of the mustelids were dated at the end of the Oligocene to the beginning of the Miocene. Which of these forms are Mustelidae ancestors and which should be considered the first mustelids is unclear. The fossil record indicates that mustelids appeared in
2641-490: Is polygamous , with each male polecat mating with several females. The gestation period lasts 40–43 days, with litters usually being born in May-early June. Each litter typically consists of five to ten kits. At birth, the kits weigh 9–10 g (0.32–0.35 oz) and measure 55–70 mm (2.2–2.8 in) in body length; they are blind and deaf. At the age of one week, the kits are covered in silky, white fur, which
2780-449: Is a notable example of how knowledge encoded by the fossil record continues to contribute otherwise unattainable information on the emergence and development of life on Earth. For example, the research suggests Markuelia has closest affinity to priapulid worms, and is adjacent to the evolutionary branching of Priapulida , Nematoda and Arthropoda . Despite significant advances in uncovering and identifying paleontological specimens, it
2919-412: Is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age . Examples include bones , shells , exoskeletons , stone imprints of animals or microbes , objects preserved in amber , hair , petrified wood and DNA remnants. The totality of fossils is known as the fossil record . Though the fossil record is incomplete, numerous studies have demonstrated that there
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#17327797582713058-479: Is capable of killing larger prey, such as geese and hares . One polecat was reported to frequently wait at a riverbank and catch eels, which it took back to its burrow. The European polecat hunts its prey by stalking it and seizing it with its canine teeth , killing the animal with a bite to the neck. This killing method is instinctive, but perfected with practice. The polecat sometimes caches its food, particularly during seasonal gluts of frogs and toads. Sometimes,
3197-538: Is enough information available to give a good understanding of the pattern of diversification of life on Earth. In addition, the record can predict and fill gaps such as the discovery of Tiktaalik in the arctic of Canada . Paleontology includes the study of fossils: their age, method of formation, and evolutionary significance. Specimens are usually considered to be fossils if they are over 10,000 years old. The oldest fossils are around 3.48 billion years to 4.1 billion years old. The observation in
3336-479: Is generally accepted that the fossil record is vastly incomplete. Approaches for measuring the completeness of the fossil record have been developed for numerous subsets of species, including those grouped taxonomically, temporally, environmentally/geographically, or in sum. This encompasses the subfield of taphonomy and the study of biases in the paleontological record. Paleontology seeks to map out how life evolved across geologic time. A substantial hurdle
3475-649: Is its unpleasant odour, which is difficult to remove. The European polecat was first commercially farmed for its fur in Great Britain during the 1920s, but was only elevated to economic importance in Finland in 1979. It never became popular in the United States and Canada, due to import laws regarding non-native species. It did gain economic importance in the USSR, though. Unlike the stoat and least weasel ,
3614-442: Is not as complex and twisting as that of the mink or stoat , and it is not as fast as the mountain weasel ( solongoi ), stoat or least weasel , as it can be outrun by a conditioned man. Its sensory organs are well developed, though it is unable to distinguish between colours. The dimensions of the European polecat vary greatly. The species does not conform to Bergmann's rule , with the pattern of size variation seeming to follow
3753-575: Is polygamous, with pregnancy occurring after mating, following induced ovulation . It usually gives birth in early summer to litters consisting of five to ten kits, which become independent at the age of two to three months. The European polecat feeds on small rodents , birds , amphibians and reptiles . It occasionally cripples its prey by piercing its brain with its teeth and stores it, still living, in its burrow for future consumption. The European polecat originated in Western Europe during
3892-488: Is present in all of France's territories, excepting Corsica , and has been in a state of decline for several decades. Nevertheless, it is listed as Least Concern on France's Red Data Book. The European polecat is rare in numerous regions or départements . In the Rhone - Alps region, its population has undergone a sizeable decline since the 1990s, largely as a consequence of poisoning campaigns against muskrats . A 1999 study on
4031-486: Is replaced with a cinnamon brown-greyish woolly coat at the age of 3–4 wk. Weaning begins at three weeks of age, while the permanent dentition erupts after 7–8 wk. The kits become independent after two to three months. Females are very protective of their young, and have even been known to confront humans approaching too closely to their litters. The European polecat's diet consists of mouse -like rodents , followed by amphibians and birds . Its most frequent prey item in
4170-438: Is replete with the mollusks , the vertebrates , the echinoderms , the brachiopods and some groups of arthropods . Fossil sites with exceptional preservation—sometimes including preserved soft tissues—are known as Lagerstätten —German for "storage places". These formations may have resulted from carcass burial in an anoxic environment with minimal bacteria, thus slowing decomposition. Lagerstätten span geological time from
4309-470: Is the difficulty of working out fossil ages. Beds that preserve fossils typically lack the radioactive elements needed for radiometric dating . This technique is our only means of giving rocks greater than about 50 million years old an absolute age, and can be accurate to within 0.5% or better. Although radiometric dating requires careful laboratory work, its basic principle is simple: the rates at which various radioactive elements decay are known, and so
European polecat - Misplaced Pages Continue
4448-532: Is the polecat's most common ectoparasite, which is sometimes found in large numbers on the neck and behind the ears. Another, less common species to infest polecats is I. canisuga . The biting louse Trichodectes jacobi is also known to infest polecats. Endoparasites carried by polecats include the cestodes Taenia tenuicollis and T. martis and the nematodes Molineus patens , Strongyloides papillosus , Capilliaria putorii , Filaroides martis and Skjrabingylus nasicola . The polecat has earned for itself
4587-413: Is the science of deciphering the "layer-cake" that is the sedimentary record. Rocks normally form relatively horizontal layers, with each layer younger than the one underneath it. If a fossil is found between two layers whose ages are known, the fossil's age is claimed to lie between the two known ages. Because rock sequences are not continuous, but may be broken up by faults or periods of erosion , it
4726-403: Is usually only caught incidentally. The European polecat is a valuable fur bearer, whose pelt (fitch) is more valuable than the steppe polecat's. Its skin is used primarily in the production of jackets , capes and coats . It is particularly well suited for trimmings for women's clothing . The tail is sometimes used for the making of paintbrushes . One disadvantage of polecat skin, however,
4865-467: Is very difficult to match up rock beds that are not directly adjacent. However, fossils of species that survived for a relatively short time can be used to match isolated rocks: this technique is called biostratigraphy . For instance, the conodont Eoplacognathus pseudoplanus has a short range in the Middle Ordovician period. If rocks of unknown age have traces of E. pseudoplanus , they have
5004-472: The American mink 's; while a mink will take 118 minutes to cool in a water temperature of 8 °C (46 °F), the polecat cools down much faster at 26–28 minutes. Polecats were found in two major phenotypes a typic one and a dark fur one with no black mask. Colour mutations include albinos , leucists , isabellinists , xanthochromists , amelanists , and erythrists . In typical erythristic individuals,
5143-595: The Balearic Islands to control rabbit populations . As the European rabbit is native to the Iberian Peninsula and northwest Africa , the European polecat likely was first domesticated in these regions. The ferret and European polecat are similar in both size and portions, to the point that dark-coloured ferrets are almost indistinguishable from their wild cousins, though the ferret's skull has
5282-801: The Cambrian period to the present . Worldwide, some of the best examples of near-perfect fossilization are the Cambrian Maotianshan Shales and Burgess Shale , the Devonian Hunsrück Slates , the Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone , and the Carboniferous Mazon Creek localities. A fossil is said to be recrystallized when the original skeletal compounds are still present but in a different crystal form, such as from aragonite to calcite . Replacement occurs when
5421-641: The Danube in the south approximately to northwest of Suoyarvi , on the Finnish border in the north. In Karelia , its northern border extends from the former point towards the southeast to the Spassk Bay of Lake Onega , thereby passing around the West Karelian uplands from the south and then, passing around these uplands from the east, it suddenly ascends directly to the north passing in particular, near
5560-634: The Durance and Rhone Rivers. The largest populations occur in Northern France: Pas de Calais , Central France; Alsace , Lorraine and the areas of the Loire with the Vendée , which holds the largest record of polecat observations. It is common in all the départements of Champagne-Ardenne . The western border of the European polecat's range in the former Soviet Union begins from the mouth of
5699-407: The European mink , producing offspring termed khor'-tumak by Russian furriers and khonorik by fanciers. Such hybridisation is very rare in the wild, and typically only occurs where the European mink population is in decline. A polecat-mink hybrid has a poorly defined facial mask, yellow fur on the ears, grey-yellow underfur and long, dark brown guard hairs. It is fairly large, with a male attaining
European polecat - Misplaced Pages Continue
5838-656: The IUCN Red List due to its wide range and large numbers. The word "polecat" first appeared after the Norman Conquest of England , written (in Middle English ) as polcat . While the second syllable is largely self-explanatory, the origin of the first is unclear. It is possibly derived from the French poule , meaning " chicken ", likely in reference to the species' fondness for poultry, or it may be
5977-472: The Middle Pleistocene , with its closest living relatives being the steppe polecat , the black-footed ferret and the European mink . With the two former species, it can produce fertile offspring, though hybrids between it and the latter species tend to be sterile, and are distinguished from their parent species by their larger size and more valuable pelts. The European polecat is thought to be
6116-462: The Norman Conquest of England , or as late as the fourteenth century. Crossbreeds between the two animals typically have a distinct white throat patch, white feet and white hairs interspersed among the fur. Typically, first generation crossbreeds between polecats and ferrets develop their wild parents' fear of humans if left with their mothers during the critical socialisation period between 7½ and 8½ weeks of age. The European polecat can hybridise with
6255-586: The Phacops fossil record was that the aftermaths of the lens changes, but not the rapidly occurring evolutionary process, were fossilized. This and other data led Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge to publish their seminal paper on punctuated equilibrium in 1971. Synchrotron X-ray tomographic analysis of early Cambrian bilaterian embryonic microfossils yielded new insights of metazoan evolution at its earliest stages. The tomography technique provides previously unattainable three-dimensional resolution at
6394-569: The Renaissance . Leonardo da Vinci concurred with Aristotle's view that fossils were the remains of ancient life. For example, Leonardo noticed discrepancies with the biblical flood narrative as an explanation for fossil origins: If the Deluge had carried the shells for distances of three and four hundred miles from the sea it would have carried them mixed with various other natural objects all heaped up together; but even at such distances from
6533-740: The Russian Empire produced more than 50% of global polecat skins. The harvesting of polecats in Russia increased substantially after the October Revolution , which coincided with Western Europe's decline in polecat numbers. The Russian population of polecats decreased somewhat after the Second World War, and their hunting was subsequently discouraged, as polecats were acknowledged to limit harmful rodent populations. The European polecat may suffer from distemper , influenza ,
6672-731: The Russian Federation , though it is absent from Ireland, northern Scandinavia , and much of the Balkans and eastern Adriatic coast. It occurs only marginally in northern Greece . It is found in Morocco in the Rif Mountains , from sea level to 2,400 m (7,900 ft). Its domesticated form, the ferret, was introduced in Britain , and some Mediterranean islands and New Zealand. There are ... some extreme examples, but
6811-602: The Song dynasty during the 11th century, who kept a specific seashell fossil with his own poem engraved on it. In his Dream Pool Essays published in 1088, Song dynasty Chinese scholar-official Shen Kuo hypothesized that marine fossils found in a geological stratum of mountains located hundreds of miles from the Pacific Ocean was evidence that a prehistoric seashore had once existed there and shifted over centuries of time . His observation of petrified bamboos in
6950-556: The Vincent Wildlife Trust in 2015 found that the polecat had spread into areas (such as East Anglia and South Yorkshire) where they had not been seen for 100 years. Naturalist Chris Packham termed the spread "...one of the great natural recoveries." The New Forest in Hampshire also now has a small polecat population, a fact discovered after scientists set up cameras to film pine martens . The European polecat
7089-492: The cats ) and not the Caniformia (those sharing more recent origins with the dogs ). Because mongooses and mustelids occupy similar ecological niches , convergent evolution has led to similarity in form and behavior. Several mustelids, including the mink, the sable (a type of marten), and the stoat (ermine), possess furs that are considered beautiful and valuable, so have been hunted since prehistoric times. From
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#17327797582717228-597: The common cold and pneumonia . Occasionally, it is affected by malignant tumours and hydrocephaly . It commonly has broken teeth and, on rarer occasions, fatal abscesses on the jaw, head and neck. In mainland Europe, it is a carrier of trichinosis , leptospirosis , toxoplasmosis and adiaspiromycosis . Incidences of polecats carrying rabies are high in some localized areas. Ectoparasites known to infest polecats include flea species such as Ctenocephalides felis , Archaeospylla erinacei , Nosopsyllus fasciatus and Paraceras melis . The tick Ixodes hexagonus
7367-550: The coup de grâce . In Britain, the European polecat was regarded as a serious poultry predator prior to the introduction of wire netting , therefore eliminating it was considered the only option to protect stock. This extreme enmity does not appear to have been universal however. Speaking of Merioneth ( Gwynedd ) Peter Hope Jones reported that "for a county supposedly well-placed within the known past distribution of this species, Merioneth has relatively very few records of Polecats amongst its parish bounty payments. Perhaps this animal
7506-519: The ferret . Tayra are also kept as pets (although they require a Dangerous Wild Animals licence in the UK), or as working animals for hunting or vermin control. Others have been important in the fur trade —the mink is often raised for its fur . Being one of the most species-rich families in the order Carnivora, the family Mustelidae also is one of the oldest. Mustelid-like forms first appeared about 40 million years ago (Mya), roughly coinciding with
7645-432: The fully aquatic sea otter, which is one of the few nonprimate mammals known to use tools while foraging. It uses "anvil" stones to crack open the shellfish that form a significant part of its diet. It is a " keystone species ", keeping its prey populations in balance so some do not outcompete the others and destroy the kelp in which they live. The black-footed ferret is entirely dependent on another keystone species,
7784-402: The law of superposition ) preserved different assemblages of fossils, and that these assemblages succeeded one another in a regular and determinable order. He observed that rocks from distant locations could be correlated based on the fossils they contained. He termed this the principle of faunal succession . This principle became one of Darwin's chief pieces of evidence that biological evolution
7923-596: The least weasel can be under 20 cm (8 in) in length, while the giant otter of Amazonian South America can measure up to 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) and sea otters can exceed 45 kg (99 lb) in weight. Wolverines can crush bones as thick as the femur of a moose to get at the marrow , and have been seen attempting to drive bears away from their kills. The sea otter uses rocks to break open shellfish to eat. Martens are largely arboreal , while European badgers dig extensive tunnel networks, called setts . Only one mustelid has been domesticated;
8062-583: The mid-Miocene climate transition . Contrary to expectations, Law et al. (2018) found no evidence for rapid bursts of lineage diversification at the origin of the Mustelidae, and further analyses of lineage diversification rates using molecular and fossil-based methods did not find associations between rates of lineage diversification and mid-Miocene climate transition as previously hypothesized. Fossil record A fossil (from Classical Latin fossilis , lit. ' obtained by digging ' )
8201-552: The prairie dog . A family of four ferrets eats 250 prairie dogs in a year; this requires a stable population of prairie dogs from an area of some 500 acres (2.0 km ). Skunks were previously included as a subfamily of the mustelids, but DNA research placed them in their own separate family (Mephitidae). Mongooses bear a striking resemblance to many mustelids, but belong to a distinctly different suborder —the Feliformia (all those carnivores sharing more recent origins with
8340-403: The thunderbird . There is no such direct mythological connection known from prehistoric Africa, but there is considerable evidence of tribes there excavating and moving fossils to ceremonial sites, apparently treating them with some reverence. In Japan, fossil shark teeth were associated with the mythical tengu , thought to be the razor-sharp claws of the creature, documented some time after
8479-453: The 16th century. Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote of " tongue stones ", which he called glossopetra . These were fossil shark teeth, thought by some classical cultures to look like the tongues of people or snakes. He also wrote about the horns of Ammon , which are fossil ammonites , whence the group of shelled octopus-cousins ultimately draws its modern name. Pliny also makes one of
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#17327797582718618-406: The 1950s, and is very rare in the mountain regions. In Normandy , the speed of the polecat's decline has somewhat decreased. In the alpine départements, its range is limited by altitude, as the species relies on more Mediterranean climates to thrive. It is, however, especially abundant in the irrigated Crau , but is absent on the eastern part of the area, apparently being restricted by the valleys of
8757-739: The 19th century that certain fossils were associated with certain rock strata led to the recognition of a geological timescale and the relative ages of different fossils. The development of radiometric dating techniques in the early 20th century allowed scientists to quantitatively measure the absolute ages of rocks and the fossils they host. There are many processes that lead to fossilization , including permineralization , casts and molds, authigenic mineralization , replacement and recrystallization, adpression, carbonization , and bioimmuration. Fossils vary in size from one- micrometre (1 μm) bacteria to dinosaurs and trees, many meters long and weighing many tons. A fossil normally preserves only
8896-470: The 39-year period from 1720 to 1758, the payment being exactly half the going rate for a fox, i.e. 2/6 for a full-grown polecat, and 1/3 for a young animal". In Kent , for example, at least 42 parishes paid bounties for polecats, of which three extended into the 19th century, though by this time only single individuals were recorded, and usually after gaps of many years. In the Kingdom of Scotland , during
9035-413: The 8th century AD. In medieval China, the fossil bones of ancient mammals including Homo erectus were often mistaken for " dragon bones" and used as medicine and aphrodisiacs . In addition, some of these fossil bones are collected as "art" by scholars, who left scripts on various artifacts, indicating the time they were added to a collection. One good example is the famous scholar Huang Tingjian of
9174-630: The Asian steppe polecat or the domestic ferret to produce fertile offspring. European-steppe polecat hybrids are very rare, despite their sympatry in several areas. Nevertheless, hybrids have been recorded in southern Ukraine , the Kursk and Voronezh Oblasts , the Trans- Carpathians and several other localities. The European polecat is widespread in the western Palaearctic to the Urals in
9313-433: The European polecat can coexist with the European mink , it suffers in areas where the invasive American mink also occurs, as the latter species feeds on the same mammals as the polecat much more frequently than the European mink, and has been known to drive the polecat out of wetland habitats. In areas where the European polecat is sympatric with the steppe polecat , the two species overlap greatly in choice of food, though
9452-442: The European polecat is easy to breed in captivity. According to Aubyn Trevor-Battye , the European polecat is difficult to tame, but is superior to its domesticated form, the ferret, in bolting rats from their holes due to its greater agility. It is prone to attempting escape once finished bolting rats, but can be easily outrun. Polecat kits can be successfully raised and suckled by mother cats . According to Owen's Welsh Dictionary ,
9591-530: The European polecat is the sole ancestor of the ferret, thus disproving any connection with the steppe polecat, which was once thought to have contributed to the ferret's creation. Ferrets were first mentioned by Aristophanes in 425 BC and by Aristotle in 350 BC. Greek and Roman writers in the first century AD were the first to attest on the ferret's use in bolting rabbits from their burrows. The first accurate descriptions of ferrets come from Strabo during 200 AD, when ferrets were released onto
9730-587: The European polecat is typical of members of the genus Mustela , though it is generally more compact in conformation and, although short-legged, has a less elongated body than the European mink or steppe polecat . The tail is short, about one-third its body length. The eyes are small, with dark brown irises . The hind toes are long and partially webbed, with weakly curved 4 mm-long, nonretractable claws. The front claws are strongly curved, partially retractable, and measure 6 mm in length. The feet are moderately long and more robust than in other members of
9869-458: The European polecat's status as an animal indigenous to Britain on account of a scarce fossil record and linguistic evidence. Unlike most native British mammals, the polecat's Welsh name ( ffwlbart , derived from the Middle English foulmart ) is not of Celtic origin, much as the Welsh names of invasive species such as the European rabbit and fallow deer ( cwningen , derived from
10008-468: The Gwythelians (early Irish settlers in northern Wales) kept polecats as pets. Attempts to tame the European polecat are generally hampered by the adult's nervous and unsociable disposition. First generation hybrids between polecats and ferrets, conceived to improve the latter's bloodlines, produce animals with personalities similar to their wild parent's. In Britain, the polecat historically has had
10147-764: The Middle English konyng and danas , derived from the Old French dain , respectively) are of Middle English or Old French origin. Polecats are not mentioned in Anglo-Saxon or Welsh literature prior to the Norman conquest of England in 1066, with the first recorded mention of the species in the Welsh language occurring in the 14th century's Llyfr Coch Hergest and in English in Chaucer 's The Pardoner's Tale (1383). In contrast, attestations of
10286-758: The North Pacific was the major economic driving force behind Russian expansion into Kamchatka , the Aleutian Islands , and Alaska , as well as a cause for conflict with Japan and foreign hunters in the Kuril Islands . Together with widespread hunting in California and British Columbia, the species was brought to the brink of extinction until an international moratorium came into effect in 1911. Today, some mustelids are threatened for other reasons. Sea otters are vulnerable to oil spills and
10425-615: The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life , the oldest animal fossils were those from the Cambrian Period, now known to be about 540 million years old. He worried about the absence of older fossils because of the implications on the validity of his theories, but he expressed hope that such fossils would be found, noting that: "only a small portion of the world is known with accuracy." Darwin also pondered
10564-566: The Proterozoic and deeper still in the Archean is only "recounted by microscopic fossils and subtle chemical signals." Molecular biologists, using phylogenetics , can compare protein amino acid or nucleotide sequence homology (i.e., similarity) to evaluate taxonomy and evolutionary distances among organisms, with limited statistical confidence. The study of fossils, on the other hand, can more specifically pinpoint when and in what organism
10703-603: The Welsh word for pine marten ( bele ), date back at least to the 10th century Welsh Laws and possibly much earlier in northern England. Probably no other animal on the British list has had as many colloquial names as the polecat. In southern England it was generally referred to as 'fitchou' whereas in the north it was 'foumat or foumard... However there were a host of others including endless spelling variations: philbert, fulmer, fishock, filibart, poulcat, poll cat, etc. Charles Oldham identified at least 20 different versions of
10842-402: The appearance of rodents . The common ancestor of modern mustelids appeared about 18 Mya. Within a large range of variation, the mustelids exhibit some common characteristics. They are typically small animals with elongated bodies, short legs, short skulls, short, round ears, and thick fur. Most mustelids are solitary, nocturnal animals, and are active year-round. With the exception of
10981-413: The beach, indicating the fossils were once living animals. He had previously explained them in terms of vaporous exhalations , which Persian polymath Avicenna modified into the theory of petrifying fluids ( succus lapidificatus ). Recognition of fossil seashells as originating in the sea was built upon in the 14th century by Albert of Saxony , and accepted in some form by most naturalists by
11120-714: The beginning of recorded history. The fossils themselves are referred to as the fossil record. The fossil record was one of the early sources of data underlying the study of evolution and continues to be relevant to the history of life on Earth . Paleontologists examine the fossil record to understand the process of evolution and the way particular species have evolved. Fossils have been visible and common throughout most of natural history, and so documented human interaction with them goes back as far as recorded history, or earlier. There are many examples of paleolithic stone knives in Europe, with fossil echinoderms set precisely at
11259-447: The body. On the back and hindquarters, the underfur is almost completely covered by the dark guard hairs. On the flanks, though, the lightening is well defined, and contrasts sharply with the general tone of the back. The throat, lower neck, chest and abdomen are black or blackish brown. The limbs are pure black or black with brown tints, while the tail is black or blackish brown, completely lacking light underfur. The area around and between
11398-636: The border goes to the north along the Volga River . It steeply returns east somewhat south at the Samara bend, passing around Obshchy Syrt , reaching the Urals at the latitude of Magnitogorsk . The range of the polecat within the former Soviet Union has expanded northwards. From 1930 to 1952 for example, the polecat colonised northwestern Karelia and southern Finland. Prior to the First World War,
11537-646: The breeding frogs there. This was later proven to be incorrect, as the climate in Tregaron is too wet for the European polecat, and it does not hold large frog populations. Compared to other British carnivores, such as otters and badgers , the polecat has received little exposure in popular media. A study conducted on rural school children showed only 3.8% of the surveyed children could identify polecats in photographs, whereas 83.7% correctly identified otters. Mustelidae The Mustelidae ( / m ʌ ˈ s t ɛ l ɪ d iː / ; from Latin mustela , weasel) are
11676-708: The decline of polecats in this region indicated the species has little chance of surviving there. Elsewhere, it is considered either rare or sporadic in 22 districts and absent or extirpated in 22 others. In Drôme , for example, polecat populations have been decreasing since 1975, and have disappeared in 27 communes in Isère . Its numbers are declining in Morvan and Ariège , and is thinly distributed in Brittany . Although present in Aquitaine , its numbers have been dropping since
11815-670: The deity Sopdu , the Morning Star, equivalent of Venus in Roman mythology. Fossils appear to have directly contributed to the mythology of many civilizations, including the ancient Greeks. Classical Greek historian Herodotos wrote of an area near Hyperborea where gryphons protected golden treasure. There was indeed gold mining in that approximate region , where beaked Protoceratops skulls were common as fossils. A later Greek scholar, Aristotle , eventually realized that fossil seashells from rocks were similar to those found on
11954-436: The direction of carnivory as the steppe polecat, being less specialised in skull structure and dentition. The European polecat likely diverged from the steppe polecat 1.5 million years ago based on IRBP , though cytochrome b transversions indicate a younger date of 430,000 years. It is also closely related to the European mink , with which it can hybridise. Morphological , cytological and molecular studies confirm
12093-466: The dry northern climate zone of what is now Yan'an , Shaanxi province, China, led him to advance early ideas of gradual climate change due to bamboo naturally growing in wetter climate areas. In medieval Christendom , fossilized sea creatures on mountainsides were seen as proof of the biblical deluge of Noah's Ark . After observing the existence of seashells in mountains, the ancient Greek philosopher Xenophanes (c. 570 – 478 BC) speculated that
12232-415: The earlier known references to toadstones , thought until the 18th century to be a magical cure for poison originating in the heads of toads, but which are fossil teeth from Lepidotes , a Cretaceous ray-finned fish. The Plains tribes of North America are thought to have similarly associated fossils, such as the many intact pterosaur fossils naturally exposed in the region, with their own mythology of
12371-550: The earliest known stromatolites are over 3.4 billion years old. The fossil record is life's evolutionary epic that unfolded over four billion years as environmental conditions and genetic potential interacted in accordance with natural selection. The Virtual Fossil Museum Paleontology has joined with evolutionary biology to share the interdisciplinary task of outlining the tree of life, which inevitably leads backwards in time to Precambrian microscopic life when cell structure and functions evolved. Earth's deep time in
12510-468: The early Middle Ages, the trade in furs was of great economic importance for northern and eastern European nations with large native populations of fur-bearing mustelids, and was a major economic impetus behind Russian expansion into Siberia and French and English expansion in North America. In recent centuries fur farming , notably of mink, has also become widespread and provides the majority of
12649-464: The earth during earthquake and subsidences, and petrifies whatever comes into contact with it. As a matter of fact, the petrifaction of the bodies of plants and animals is not more extraordinary than the transformation of waters. From the 13th century to the present day, scholars pointed out that the fossil skulls of Deinotherium giganteum , found in Crete and Greece, might have been interpreted as being
12788-478: The existence of a world previous to ours, destroyed by some kind of catastrophe. Interest in fossils, and geology more generally, expanded during the early nineteenth century. In Britain, Mary Anning 's discoveries of fossils, including the first complete ichthyosaur and a complete plesiosaurus skeleton, sparked both public and scholarly interest. Early naturalists well understood the similarities and differences of living species leading Linnaeus to develop
12927-445: The eyes is black-brown, with a longitudinal stripe of similar colour along the top of the nose. The ears are dark brown and edged with white. The summer fur is short, sparse and coarse. It is greyer, duller and lacking in the lustre of the winter fur. The underfur is more weakly developed in the summer fur, and has a brownish-grey or rusty-grey colour. The polecat is a good swimmer, but its fur is not as well insulated against cold water as
13066-435: The fact remains that throughout England and Wales polecats were consistently persecuted at a greater intensity than any other species of mustelid. Did this level of persecution have an effect on overall numbers or did it purely satisfy local vengeance? ... The polecat may be the best example of a species for which the level of killing really did make a difference to the population. The developing sporting estates then administered
13205-481: The family Mustelidae include: Multigene phylogenies constructed by Koepfli et al. (2008) and Law et al. (2018) found that Mustelidae comprises eight living subfamilies. The early mustelids appear to have undergone two rapid bursts of diversification in Eurasia, with the resulting species spreading to other continents only later. Mustelid species diversity is often attributed to an adaptive radiation coinciding with
13344-706: The fells, the Border country and the Scottish Lowlands . John Tucker Edwardes, the creator of the Sealyham terrier , used captured wild male polecats to test the gameness of yearling terriers. In the former Soviet Union, polecats are hunted chiefly in late autumn and early winter with guns and hunting dogs, as well as foothold traps and wooden snares . However, even in season, hunters rarely catch more than 10–15 polecats. The species does not constitute an important element in former Soviet commercial hunting, and
13483-904: The ferret will readily live in social groups. The ferret is also slower in all its movements than the polecat, and hardly ever makes any use of its anal scent glands. Overall, the ferret represents a neotenous form of polecat. As of 2005, seven subspecies are recognised. ( Nominate subspecies ) [REDACTED] foetens (Thunberge, 1789) foetidus (Gray, 1843) iltis (Boddaert, 1785) infectus (Ogérien, 1863) manium (Barrett-Hamilton, 1904) putorius (Blyth, 1842) verus (Brandt in Simashko, 1851) vison (de Sélys Longchamps, 1839) vulgaris (Griffith, 1827) [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] furoputorius (Link, 1795) subrufo (Gray, 1865) orientalis (Polushina, 1955) ognevi (Kratochvil) The appearance of
13622-409: The former Soviet Union is the common vole and rarely the red-backed vole . In large river floodlands, water vole are common prey. In spring and winter, amphibians (especially grass frogs and green toads ) become important food items. Selective predation on male frogs by the polecat decreases the occurrence of polyandry in frog populations. However, because amphibians have little calorific value ,
13761-417: The former tends to consume more household foods and birds, while the latter preys on mammals more frequently. There is at least one record of a beech marten killing a polecat. The European polecat may prey on the much smaller least weasel. In some parts of Britain, the abandonment of domestic ferrets has led to ferret-polecat crossbreeds living in the wild. Ferrets were likely first brought to Britain after
13900-439: The fur brought to market. One species, the sea mink ( Neogale macrodon ) of New England and Canada, was driven to extinction by fur trappers. Its appearance and habits are almost unknown today because no complete specimens can be found and no systematic contemporary studies were conducted. The sea otter , which has the densest fur of any animal, narrowly escaped the fate of the sea mink. The discovery of large populations in
14039-459: The genus. The polecat's skull is relatively coarse and massive, more so than the mink's, with a strong, but short and broad facial region and strongly developed projections. In comparison to other similarly sized mustelids, the polecat's teeth are very strong, large and massive in relation to skull size. Sexual dimorphism in the skull is apparent in the lighter, narrower skull of the female, which also has weaker projections. The polecat's running gait
14178-519: The hand grip, dating back to Homo heidelbergensis and Neanderthals . These ancient peoples also drilled holes through the center of those round fossil shells, apparently using them as beads for necklaces. The ancient Egyptians gathered fossils of species that resembled the bones of modern species they worshipped. The god Set was associated with the hippopotamus , therefore fossilized bones of hippo-like species were kept in that deity's temples. Five-rayed fossil sea urchin shells were associated with
14317-464: The indirect effects of overfishing; the black-footed ferret , a relative of the European polecat , suffers from the loss of American prairie ; and wolverine populations are slowly declining because of habitat destruction and persecution. The rare European mink ( Mustela lutreola ) is one of the most endangered mustelid species. The ferret , a domesticated European polecat, is a fairly common pet . The oldest known mustelid from North America
14456-724: The late Oligocene period (33 Mya) in Eurasia and migrated to every continent except Antarctica and Australia (all the continents that were connected during or since the early Miocene). They reached the Americas via the Bering land bridge . The 68 recent mustelids (66 extant species) are classified into eight subfamilies in 22 genera: Subfamily Mellivorinae Subfamily Melinae Subfamily Helictidinae Subfamily Guloninae Subfamily Ictonychinae Subfamily Lutrinae ( otters ) Subfamily Mustelinae (weasels, ferrets, and mink) Fossil mustelids Extinct genera of
14595-535: The limits of fossilization. Fossils of two enigmatic bilaterians, the worm-like Markuelia and a putative, primitive protostome , Pseudooides , provide a peek at germ layer embryonic development. These 543-million-year-old embryos support the emergence of some aspects of arthropod development earlier than previously thought in the late Proterozoic. The preserved embryos from China and Siberia underwent rapid diagenetic phosphatization resulting in exquisite preservation, including cell structures. This research
14734-469: The majority of polecat deaths caused by humans have been accidental, having mostly been caused by steel traps set for rabbits. Hunting polecats by moonlight was also a popular diversion among midland schoolboys. Until the mid-19th century, polecats in Britain were hunted from early February to late April with mixed packs of hunting dogs on the Welsh hills and Lakeland fells, though otterhounds were used on
14873-450: The male's deters intrusion. During summer, the diets of wild polecat-mink hybrids are more similar to those of minks than to the polecats, as they feed predominantly on frogs. During winter, their diets overlap more with those of polecats, and will eat a larger proportion of rodents than in the summer, though they still rely heavily on frogs and rarely scavenge ungulate carcasses as polecats do. The European polecat can also hybridise with
15012-682: The mouth of the Dnepr , from which it moves back from the shore of the Azov Sea and, along it, goes to the mouth of the Don . From the mouth and lower course of the Don, its range passes into the steppe region of western and middle Ciscaucasia . The European polecat is absent from the Saratov steppes of Transvolga , instead being encountered only in the extreme lower Bolshoy and Maly Irgiz Rivers . Further on,
15151-504: The name in the Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire area alone. As well as the several indigenous names referring to smell (see above), the scientific name Mustela putorius is also derived from this species' foul smell. The Latin putorius translates to "stench" or "stink" and is the origin of the English word putrid . The earliest true polecat was Mustela stromeri , which appeared during the late Villafranchian . It
15290-679: The peak sizes known for European polecats weighing 1,120–1,746 g (2 lb 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 oz – 3 lb 13 + 9 ⁄ 16 oz) and measuring 41–47 cm (16– 18 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) in length; a female is much larger than a female European minks weighing 742 g ( 26 + 3 ⁄ 16 oz) and measuring 37 cm ( 14 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) in length. The majority of polecat-mink hybrids have skulls bearing greater similarities to those of polecats than to minks; they can swim well and burrow for food like polecats, but are difficult to tame and breed, as males are sterile . The first captive polecat-mink hybrid
15429-458: The polecat does not kill these, but bites them at the base of the skull, thus paralyzing them and keeping them fresh for later consumption. Although they are normally shy around humans, naturalist Alfred Brehm in his Brehms Tierleben mentions an exceptional case in which three polecats attacked a baby in Hesse . During winter, some European polecats raid beehives and feed on honey . Although
15568-401: The polecat is usually a silent animal, though it will growl fiercely when angered, and squeak when distressed. It also emits a low, mewling cry to its mate or offspring. The European polecat is a seasonal breeder, with no courtship rituals. During the mating season , the male grabs the female by the neck and drags her about to stimulate ovulation , then copulates for up to an hour. The species
15707-525: The polecat never grows fat on them, no matter how many it consumes. In Central Europe, the diet in winter months is dominated by birds including quail , grey partridges , grouse , chickens , pigeons and passerines . Seasonal changes in the activity rhythm is synchronised with the activity of the main prey. Some species only rarely preyed upon by the polecat include European hedgehogs , asp vipers , grass snakes , lizards and insects . In Britain, it commonly kills brown rats and European rabbits , and
15846-439: The presence of shearing carnassials . One characteristic trait is a meat-shearing upper-back molar that is rotated 90°, towards the inside of the mouth. With variation between species, the most common dental formula is 3.1.3.1 3.1.3.2 . The fisher , tayra, and martens are partially arboreal, while badgers are fossorial . A number of mustelids have aquatic lifestyles, ranging from semiaquatic minks and river otters to
15985-545: The problems involved in matching rocks of the same age across continents . Family-tree relationships also help to narrow down the date when lineages first appeared. For instance, if fossils of B or C date to X million years ago and the calculated "family tree" says A was an ancestor of B and C, then A must have evolved earlier. It is also possible to estimate how long ago two living clades diverged, in other words approximately how long ago their last common ancestor must have lived, by assuming that DNA mutations accumulate at
16124-413: The products of polecat-mink hybridisation . The winter fur of the European polecat is brownish black or blackish brown, the intensity of which is determined by the colour of the long guard hairs. On the back and flanks, the dark tone is brightened by bright whitish-yellowish, sometimes yellowish-greyish underfur which shows through. The lightly coloured underfur is not equally visible on different parts of
16263-443: The ratio of the radioactive element to its decay products shows how long ago the radioactive element was incorporated into the rock. Radioactive elements are common only in rocks with a volcanic origin, and so the only fossil-bearing rocks that can be dated radiometrically are volcanic ash layers, which may provide termini for the intervening sediments. Consequently, palaeontologists rely on stratigraphy to date fossils. Stratigraphy
16402-530: The reign of David II , an export duty of 4 d. was imposed on each polecat fur trimmer, which was raised to 8d. in 1424. The species held an important place in Scotland's fur markets; the annual Dumfries Fur Fair (1816–1874) sold 400 polecat pelts in 1829 and 600 in 1831. The following year, a contemporary account described polecat skins as "a drug on the market". In 1856, the number of sold pelts decreased to 240, 168 in 1860, 12 in 1866 and none in 1869. The decline
16541-462: The relative ages of rock strata as determined by the early paleontologists and stratigraphers . Since the early years of the twentieth century, absolute dating methods, such as radiometric dating (including potassium/argon , argon/argon , uranium series , and, for very recent fossils, radiocarbon dating ) have been used to verify the relative ages obtained by fossils and to provide absolute ages for many fossils. Radiometric dating has shown that
16680-437: The same sex; males have larger home ranges than females, but evidence of territorial marking is sparse. European polecats use several den sites distributed throughout their home ranges and are often most active around rabbit warrens. Some European polecats use farm buildings or haystacks as daytime resting sites in winter. Occasionally, European polecats use abandoned European badger or red fox burrows. Like other mustelids,
16819-429: The sea and that they were still living when the strait of Gibraltar was cut through. In the mountains of Parma and Piacenza multitudes of shells and corals with holes may be seen still sticking to the rocks.... In 1666, Nicholas Steno examined a shark, and made the association of its teeth with the "tongue stones" of ancient Greco-Roman mythology, concluding that those were not in fact the tongues of venomous snakes, but
16958-400: The sea otter they have anal scent glands that produce a strong-smelling secretion the animals use for sexual signalling and marking territory . Most mustelid reproduction involves embryonic diapause . The embryo does not immediately implant in the uterus , but remains dormant for some time. No development takes place as long as the embryo remains unattached to the uterine lining. As
17097-423: The sea we see the oysters all together and also the shellfish and the cuttlefish and all the other shells which congregate together, found all together dead; and the solitary shells are found apart from one another as we see them every day on the sea-shores. And we find oysters together in very large families, among which some may be seen with their shells still joined together, indicating that they were left there by
17236-586: The skulls of the Cyclopes of Greek mythology , and are possibly the origin of that Greek myth. Their skulls appear to have a single eye-hole in the front, just like their modern elephant cousins, though in fact it's actually the opening for their trunk. In Norse mythology , echinoderm shells (the round five-part button left over from a sea urchin) were associated with the god Thor , not only being incorporated in thunderstones , representations of Thor's hammer and subsequent hammer-shaped crosses as Christianity
17375-590: The sole ancestor of the ferret , which was domesticated more than 2,000 years ago for the purpose of hunting vermin . The species has otherwise been historically viewed negatively by humans. In Britain especially, the polecat was persecuted by gamekeepers , and became synonymous with promiscuity in early English literature . During modern times, the polecat is still scantly represented in popular culture when compared to other rare British mammals, and misunderstandings of its behaviour still persist in some rural areas. Since 2008, it has been classified as Least Concern on
17514-467: The sudden appearance of many groups (i.e. phyla ) in the oldest known Cambrian fossiliferous strata. Since Darwin's time, the fossil record has been extended to between 2.3 and 3.5 billion years. Most of these Precambrian fossils are microscopic bacteria or microfossils . However, macroscopic fossils are now known from the late Proterozoic. The Ediacara biota (also called Vendian biota) dating from 575 million years ago collectively constitutes
17653-451: The teeth of some long-extinct species of shark. Robert Hooke (1635–1703) included micrographs of fossils in his Micrographia and was among the first to observe fossil forams . His observations on fossils, which he stated to be the petrified remains of creatures some of which no longer existed, were published posthumously in 1705. William Smith (1769–1839) , an English canal engineer, observed that rocks of different ages (based on
17792-774: The underfur is usually bright reddish. The guard hairs on the trunk are bright reddish or reddish brown. Black guard hairs are absent on the lower body and head. In some rare cases, the guard hairs are so light, they are almost indistinguishable from the pale-yellow underfur. These individuals are called "amelanistic". In these cases, the whole animal is a very light golden-yellow colour. These individuals are called "isabelline" or "xanthochromistic". The European polecat has definite home ranges that vary according to season, habitat, sex and social status. Breeding females settle in discrete areas, whereas breeding males and dispersing juveniles have more fluid home ranges, and are more mobile. Both males and females share home ranges with other members of
17931-510: The upper Vychegda River , and descends further on southwards and in the Urals . Its eastern range apparently extends along the Urals, embracing Sverdlovsk from the west. It is probably absent in the southern Urals, where the steppe polecat occurs. The southern border of the polecat's range starts in the west of the Danube's mouth and extends eastward along the coast of the Black Sea reaching
18070-594: The western shore of Segozer and reaches Rugozer. From there, the border line turns northeast, crossing the Lakhta and reaching Kem on the White Sea . From Archangelsk , the border reaches Mezen , thus attaining the species' most northerly range. From the Mezen River 's mouth, the border abruptly returns south, approaching closer to the upper Mezen near 64° lat. From there, the polecat's northern border goes on to
18209-644: The word "fitch", which is used for the polecat's pelt. The word fitchet is the root word for the North American fisher , which was named by Dutch colonists in America who noted similarities between the two species. In some countries such as New Zealand, the term "fitch" has taken on a wider use to refer to related creatures such as ferrets, especially when farmed for their fur. A 2002 article in The Mammal Society 's Mammal Review contested
18348-524: The world was once inundated in a great flood that buried living creatures in drying mud. In 1027, the Persian Avicenna explained fossils' stoniness in The Book of Healing : If what is said concerning the petrifaction of animals and plants is true, the cause of this (phenomenon) is a powerful mineralizing and petrifying virtue which arises in certain stony spots, or emanates suddenly from
18487-458: Was adopted, but also kept in houses to garner Thor's protection. These grew into the shepherd's crowns of English folklore, used for decoration and as good luck charms, placed by the doorway of homes and churches. In Suffolk , a different species was used as a good-luck charm by bakers, who referred to them as fairy loaves , associating them with the similarly shaped loaves of bread they baked. More scientific views of fossils emerged during
18626-517: Was considerably smaller than the present form, thus indicating polecats evolved at a relatively late period. The oldest modern polecat fossils occur in Germany, Britain and France, and date back to the Middle Pleistocene . The European polecat's closest relatives are the steppe polecat and black-footed ferret , with which it is thought to have shared Mustela stromeri as a common ancestor . The European polecat is, however, not as maximally adapted in
18765-460: Was created in 1978 for fur, but breeding of these hybrids declined as European mink populations decreased. Studies on the behavioural ecology of free-ranging polecat-mink hybrids in the upper reaches of the Lovat River indicate that hybrids stray from aquatic habitats more readily than minks, and tolerate both parent species entering their territories, though the hybrid's larger size, especially
18904-673: Was halted with the decrease in the intensity of gamekeeping during the 20 year interval between the First and Second World Wars . The European polecat is afforded both national and European protection; it is listed on Schedule 6 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and Regulation 41 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 and is listed on Annex V of the Habitats Directive . A survey carried out by
19043-452: Was not generally considered to be an important pest, but whatever the real reason, in only two parishes are direct references made to this species by the name by which we know it today. In the years from 1729 to 1732 about twenty were killed in Towyn parish, where 2/6 was paid for a full-grown polecat and half this sum for a young 'kittin'. Records for Llanfor.... show that only 42 were killed in
19182-408: Was real. Georges Cuvier came to believe that most if not all the animal fossils he examined were remains of extinct species. This led Cuvier to become an active proponent of the geological school of thought called catastrophism . Near the end of his 1796 paper on living and fossil elephants he said: All of these facts, consistent among themselves, and not opposed by any report, seem to me to prove
19321-409: Was widely believed among farmers that allowing a polecat to nest in a chicken coop would ensure the animal would not kill the poultry out of gratitude, and instead kill vermin. Cases in which polecats did kill poultry were attributed to animals which were guests at other farms. In Wales, polecats were widely believed to migrate in large numbers every spring to the great peat bog of Tregaron to feed on
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