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The steppe ferret is the largest living in the wild. In total, three species of these predatory animals are known: forest, steppe, and black-footed. The animal, along with weasels, minks, and ermines, belongs to the mustelidae family. The ferret is a very active, nimble animal with its own interesting habits and character traits. Getting to know them helps to better understand the reasons for behavior and the characteristics of the species’ life in the wild.
What does a steppe ferret look like?
According to the description, the steppe ferret resembles a black one, but is larger. The animal's head color is white. The animal has a body length of up to 56 cm in males, up to 52 cm in females. The tail makes up up to a third of the body (about 18 cm). The guard hair of the coat is long but sparse. A thick, light-colored down is visible through it. The color of the coat depends on the place of residence, but the general specific features are the same:
- body – light yellow, sandy shade;
- belly – dark yellow;
- chest, paws, groin area, tail – black;
- muzzle - with a dark mask;
- chin – brown;
- mustache – dark;
- the base and top of the tail are fawn;
- There are white spots above the eyes.
Unlike males, the light areas of females are almost white. The head of adults is lighter than at a young age.
The skull of the steppe ferret is heavier than that of the black one and is strongly flattened behind the eye orbits. The animal's ears are small and round. The eyes are bright, shiny, almost black.
The animal has 30 teeth. Among them are 14 incisors, 12 false roots.
The body of a representative of the species is squat, thin, flexible, strong. It helps the predator penetrate into any hole or crevice.
The paws are muscular, the claws are powerful. Legs are short and strong. Despite this, steppe ferrets rarely dig holes. To protect itself from attack, the animal uses the secretion of the anal glands with a disgusting odor, which it shoots at the enemy in moments of danger.
Habits and character of steppe ferrets
The steppe ferret leads a crepuscular lifestyle. Rarely active during the day. It chooses high ground for its nest and occupies the burrows of hamsters, gophers, and marmots. The cramped entrance expands, but the main resting chamber remains the same. Only when absolutely necessary does he dig a hole himself. Housing is located near rocks, in tall grass, tree hollows, old ruins, under roots.
The ferret is a good swimmer and can dive. It climbs trees extremely rarely. It moves along the ground by jumping (up to 70 cm). Jumps deftly from great heights and has keen hearing.
The steppe ferret is a loner. He leads this way of life until the mating season. The animal has its own territory for living and hunting. Although its boundaries are not clearly defined, fights between neighboring individuals are rare. When there are many animals in one territory, a certain hierarchy is established. But she is not stable.
The steppe ferret flees from a serious enemy. When unable to escape, the animal releases a foul-smelling liquid from its glands.The enemy becomes confused, the animal escapes from pursuit.
Where does it live in the wild?
The steppe ferret lives in small forests, groves with clearings, meadows, steppes, wastelands, and pastures. He doesn't like large taiga areas. The animal's hunting place is the edges of the forest. You can find a predator near reservoirs, rivers, and lakes. He also lives in the park.
The steppe ferret's lifestyle is sedentary; it becomes attached to one place, to a small territory. For shelter it uses piles of dead wood, haystacks, and old stumps. It is extremely rare to live next to a person in barns, attics, or cellars.
Its habitat extends to plains, highlands, and mountainous areas. The steppe ferret can be seen in alpine meadows, at an altitude of 3000 m above sea level.
A large population of the predator inhabits the west, center and east of Europe: Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Austria, Ukraine, Poland, and the Czech Republic. The animal is found in Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China. In the United States, the prairie ferret is found in the prairies east of the Rocky Mountains.
The wide distribution area is explained by several features of the predator:
- the ability to store food for future use;
- ability to change diet;
- the ability to repel enemies;
- the presence of fur that protects against hypothermia and overheating.
Where does the steppe ferret live in Russia?
The steppe ferret in Russia is distributed in the steppes and forest-steppe zone. In the Rostov region, Crimea, and Stavropol region, the population size has decreased significantly in recent years. The animal lives in the territory from Transbaikalia to the Far East. Able to live in the mountains at an altitude of 2600 m. The area of the habitat in the Altai Territory is 45,000 square meters. km.
In the Far East, a common subspecies of the steppe ferret is the Amur, whose habitat is the Zeya, Selemzha, and Bureya rivers. The species is on the verge of extinction. Since 1996, it has been listed in the Red Book.
What does the steppe ferret eat?
The steppe ferret is a predator; its diet is based on animal food. He is indifferent to plants.
The animal’s diet is varied, depending on the place of residence at the moment. In the steppes, its prey includes gophers, jerboas, lizards, field mice, and hamsters.
The steppe ferret hunts gophers on the ground, sneaking up on them quietly, like a cat, or digging up their holes. First of all, the animal eats the gopher's brain. He does not eat fat, skin, legs or entrails.
In summer, snakes can become his food. The steppe ferret does not disdain large locusts.
The animal swims remarkably well. If the habitat is located near water bodies, then hunting for birds, water voles, frogs, and other amphibians is possible.
The steppe ferret loves to bury food in reserve, but often forgets about hiding places, and they remain unclaimed.
Accusations of predators attacking poultry and small animals are greatly exaggerated. The damage attributed to this predator is often actually caused to humans by foxes, weasels, and martens.
The amount of food eaten per day by a steppe ferret is 1/3 of its weight.
Features of reproduction
The mating season for steppe ferrets occurs at the end of February and beginning of March. Animals reach puberty at one year of age. Before mating, the female looks for shelter for herself. The animals have no desire to dig a hole on their own; more often they kill gophers and occupy their home. Having expanded the passage into the hole to 12 cm, they leave the main chamber in its original form, insulating it with leaves and grass before birth.
Unlike forest ferrets, steppe ferrets create stable pairs. Their mating games look aggressive. The male bites and drags the female by the withers, injuring her.
Females are fertile. After 40 days of gestation, from 7 to 18 blind, deaf, naked and helpless cubs are born. Each weight is 5 - 10 g. The puppies' eyes open after a month.
At first, females do not leave the nest, feeding their young with milk. The male at this moment is engaged in hunting and brings prey to his chosen one. Starting from five weeks, the mother begins to feed the puppies meat. The brood goes on its first hunt at the age of three months. After training, young people become adults, independent and leave the family in search of their own territory.
During a season, a pair can have up to 3 broods. Sometimes puppies die. In this case, the female is ready for mating after 1 - 3 weeks.
Survival in the wild
Steppe ferrets do not have many enemies in the wild. These include foxes, wolves, and wild dogs. Large birds of prey, hawks, falcons, owls, eagles, can hunt animals.
The steppe ferret has good physical characteristics, which allows him to hide from the claws of enemies. The animal is able to throw foxes and other predators off the scent if it uses odorous gland secretions. This confuses the enemy, giving them time to escape.
In the wild, ferrets often die in infancy from disease and predators. The ability of females to bear several litters per year makes up for losses.
The average lifespan of a steppe ferret in nature is 4 years.
Landfills and buildings created by man pose a huge danger to animals.He cannot adapt to such conditions and dies, falling into technical pipes and suffocating in them.
Why is the steppe ferret listed in the Red Book?
Experts say that the population of the steppe ferret is constantly declining, and in some regions the species is on the verge of extinction.
Despite its small numbers, until recently the animal was used for industrial purposes for the manufacture of various types of clothing. The development of the steppe and forest-steppe by humans leads to the fact that the ferret leaves its usual habitat and moves to places unusual for it. The territory of residence is narrowing as a result of deforestation and an increase in the area of arable land.
Animals die from diseases - rabies, plague, scrabingylosis. The number of ferrets is also declining due to a decrease in the population of ground squirrels, the predator's main food.
The steppe ferret brings great benefits to agriculture by exterminating harmful rodents. In areas where field farming is developed, hunting it has long been prohibited.
As a result of the reduction in the number of individuals, the steppe ferret was listed in the International Red Book.
To increase the population, protected areas are being created, and bans on the use of traps have been introduced to prevent even the accidental killing of the steppe ferret. Zoologists breed animals.
Interesting Facts
The habits of the wild steppe ferret and those living in the house have been studied by people for many centuries. Some interesting facts about his life:
- the animal stores in large quantities: for example, 30 killed gophers were found in one hole, 50 in another;
- in captivity, the animal’s hunting instinct disappears, which makes it possible to keep it as a pet;
- steppe ferrets, unlike forest ferrets, maintain family ties;
- animals do not show aggression towards their relatives;
- sleep up to 20 hours a day;
- a newly born puppy can fit in the palm of a two-year-old child;
- a predator does not have an innate fear of people;
- the black-footed ferret gets along problematically;
- the animal’s weak vision is compensated by smell and hearing;
- the normal heart rate of a predator is 250 beats per minute;
- The ferret serves as a mascot for American sailors.
Conclusion
The steppe ferret is not just a funny furry animal. He has been living next to a person for a long time. In Medieval Europe, it replaced cats; today the animal helps protect fields from attacks by harmful rodents. Its population is declining everywhere, and therefore it is necessary to continue to take measures to restore the species in its natural habitats.
