Steppe polecat

The steppe polecat is a prey species of the subgenus of skunks within the family of martens that live in Eastern Europe and Asia.

The steppe polecat looks like the forest cousin and is very similar to the European polecat but has a lighter coat and is somewhat larger. Like all members of this family they have long, slender bodies with short limbs. The coat is short with a yellow undercoat and some black guard hairs. The belly and legs are black and the animal has a black face mask.

With regard to weight and height there is a strong sexual dimorphism with males reaching a head-body length from 37 to 56 cm and a weight of up to 2 kilograms, females are much lighter with a body length of 29 to 52 cm head and body weight maximum of 1.3 kilograms in weight.

Distribution and habitat
The steppe polecat is in Eastern Europe and in parts of Asia. To the East it ranges from Central Asia to Manchuria preferring to populate open areas such as steppes and semi-deserts, but they are also found living in fields and wastelands, forests and villages and basically any suitable environment where they are not overtly disturbed.

Lifestyle

Steppe polecat’s keep himself mostly in the vicinity of ground squirrel habitats as these animals are their main prey, however hamsters and pikas are included in the diet as well.

They hunt the animals from their burrows and sometimes will eat insects if necessary but they have never been seen to have any form of herbaceous diet.
If the food source is scarce the steppe polecat rather moves to a different area in order of find sufficient food to eat.

The animals live in the burrows of other species, such as hamster, rabbit or ground squirrel. They are clean animals and defecate on the outside of the burrows, and produce a number of different sounds from whining, barking and hissing. The steppe polecat has the ability to produce a fluid from their anal glands as a defence mechanism as well.

Reproduction
The mating season is during the months of February and March and after approximately a 40-day gestation period females give birth to their litters in April or May and the litter size varies considerably and is significantly higher than the cousin the European polecat varying from four to 18pups with an average of eight to ten young.

Born blind the pups take on average of around a month to open their eyes and in another two weeks are usually weaned and accompany their mothers on hunting trips.

By three months they are sexually mature and independent within approximately nine months.

Steppe polecat and steppe people

They were viewed as pests, but is now met with favour as they eat rodents, and their ancestry whether wild or domesticated of the polecat ferret ultimately is traced back to the European or Steppe polecat yet the tracing of the ancestry is not yet clearly understood.

They have been hunted sometimes for their fur but not to the extent of related species were so overall they are not among the endangered species.