Marbled Polecat

Ranging in length from 29–35 cm (head and body), the marbled polecat has a short muzzle and very large, noticeable ears. The limbs are short and claws are long and strong. While the tail is long, with long hair, the overall pelage is short. Black and white mark the face, with a black stripe across the eyes and white markings around the mouth. Dorsally, the pelage is yellow and heavily mottled with irregular reddish or brown spots. The tail is dark brown with a yellowish band in the midregion. The ventral region and limbs are a dark brown. Females weigh from 295 to 600 g (10.4 to 21.2 oz) and males from 320 to 715 g (11.3 to 25.2 oz).

The marbled polecat is distributed from Southeast Europe including the Balkans to the Caucasus, the Levant and Central Asia into north-western Pakistan, southern Mongolia and northern China. In 1998, a marbled polecat was recorded on the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. It inhabits open desert, semidesert, and semiarid rocky areas in upland valleys and low hill ranges, steppe country, and arid subtropical scrub forest. It avoids montane regions. Marbled polecats have been sighted in cultivated areas such as melon patches and vegetable fields.

The marbled polecat is most active during the morning and evening. Its eyesight is weak, and it relies on its well-developed sense of smell. Vocalization is limited and consists of shrill alarm cries, grunts and a submissive long shriek. It is solitary and moves extensively through a home range of 0.5–0.6 km2 (0.19–0.23 sq mi). It generally stays in a shelter once. When encountering each other, they are usually aggressive. When alarmed, a marbled polecat raises up on its legs while arching its back and curling its tail over its back, with the long tail hair erect. It may also raise its head, bare its teeth, and give shrill, short hisses. If threatened, it can expel a foul-smelling secretion from enlarged anal glands under its tail. To excavate burrows, the marbled polecat digs out earth with its forelegs while anchoring itself with its chin and hind legs. It uses its teeth to pull out obstacles such as roots. Burrows of large ground squirrels or similar rodents such as the great gerbil (Rhombomys opimus) and Libyan jird (Meriones libycus) are used by marbled polecats for resting and breeding. They may also dig their own dens or live in underground irrigation tunnels.[1] In the winter, marbled polecats line their dens with grass.

Reproduction. Marbled polecats mate from March to early June. Their mating calls are most often heard as low, rumbling sounds in a slow rhythm. …