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Fur animals. Types and description of ferrets How long do ferrets live

All five-letter fur-bearing animals are listed below. A brief description is given for each definition.

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List of fur animals

Squirrel

A small rodent of the squirrel family; appearance is characterized by an elongated body and a bushy tail. Body length reaches 27 cm, weight - from 250 to 350 grams. Distributed on all continents, with the exception of Australia. The most common species in Russia is the common squirrel.

Otter

A rather large predatory mammal of the mustelid family, it is predominantly nocturnal; has a long body and a tail, the length of which can be 50% of the predator’s body. Weight ranges from 7 to 10 kilograms. Distributed throughout Western Europe and most of Asia.

Sea otter

This species has the following alternative names: sea otter, Kamchatka beaver. A mammalian predator of the mustelid family, adapted to an aquatic habitat; appearance is characterized by an elongated body, the head is relatively small. Up to one and a half meters long, weight up to 45 kilograms. Popularized in the Far East, the coast of Alaska and California.

cat

Fur-bearing animal, mammalian predator of the pinniped genus; Body length reaches 2 meters, weight up to 320 kilograms. They live on the coasts of water bodies; their range covers the entire Pacific basin, as well as the territories of some subantarctic islands.

Weasel

Mammalian predator of the mustelid family; has an elongated thin body and short legs. Distributed throughout the entire Northern Hemisphere of the planet.

Seal

Genus of the seal family; the length reaches one and a half meters, weight - 100 kilograms. The species is listed in the Red Book and is distributed in the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

Mink

A mammalian predator belonging to the mustelidae family; a small animal with shiny brown fur. This species is widespread in Eurasia and North America.

Arctic fox

A predatory mammal of the canine family; This species is characterized by a squat body and a bushy tail, possible colors: white, blue. The body length reaches up to 75 centimeters, the maximum weight is 9 kilograms. The range covers the northern part of Eurasia, North America, and the North Pole.

Sea lion

A representative of the eared seal family, it has the largest dimensions; the size of adult individuals can reach 3 meters, weight - from 500 kilograms to a ton. The range covers the northern coast of the Pacific Ocean and the coast of North America.

Skunk

A small animal of the skunk family; Body length reaches 40 centimeters, tail length – up to 30 centimeters. It has a black and white striped color. It is capable of releasing an oily liquid with an unpleasant, cloying odor that can spread over a range of two kilometers. Distributed in North America.

Marmot

Rodent of the squirrel family; length reaches 40 centimeters, weight – 2-3 kilograms. The color of the coat can range from brown to silver-white. The range covers the Northern Hemisphere of the planet.

Hamster

Rodent of the hamster family; small land animals whose body length varies from 5 to 30 centimeters. Shades of color from ashen to brown. The range covers Central and Eastern Europe, Asian countries.

Ferret

Mammal of the weasel family; a squat, fur-bearing animal with short legs. The length is up to 50 centimeters, weight ranges from one kilogram to 1700 grams. The color is predominantly dark, brownish. The range covers the entire Eurasian continent.

Jackal

Mammal of the canine family; a small animal, body length reaches 80 centimeters, weight – up to 10 kilograms. It has an ash-gray color and brown tints. The range covers the Near and Middle East, Asia.

Ferret (ferret) is a predatory mammal, belongs to the mustelidae family, the genus of ferrets and weasels ( Mustela), subgenus Putorius.

Vaccinations

Like any pet, a ferret must be vaccinated against canine distemper, rabies and leptospirosis. Ferrets are most susceptible to allergies to vaccinations, so before vaccination it is necessary to ensure that the animal is given an antihistamine, and after vaccination, wait half an hour to make sure there is no allergic reaction.

Sterilization

If the animal is kept as a pet without subsequent breeding, the male ferret must be castrated and the female ferret sterilized, this will significantly reduce the specific odor that appears in animals during puberty.

Even castrated animals have a specific musky smell of fur, so once a week the animal must be bathed using special degreasing shampoos and pastes.


The ferret needs not only freedom, but also a small personal territory where the animal will rest, because ferrets sleep a lot, like cats. Therefore, the cage for a ferret should be equipped with a house or a hammock, and it is up to the owner to decide whether to keep it open or closed. Ferrets are more intelligent than even dogs, they are easy to train and can learn to close the cage on their own.

Personality of a domestic ferret

The domestic ferret is an extremely curious animal; day after day, he will methodically explore all the secret places of the apartment, not missing the opportunity to get into the narrowest corner. After playing in the trash can, he may fall asleep there. Animals love to chew and swallow small inedible objects, which can lead to complete or partial obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract, and the instinct of burrowing animals can manifest itself in regularly digging up flower pots.

A domestic ferret can easily learn to use a litter tray, but can also find another place to go to the toilet, in which case an additional tray is placed there.

Domestic ferrets live for about 5-7 years.

What to feed your ferret at home?

The ferret is a carnivore, and the basis of its diet should be protein food: minced meat or dry food for ferrets.

Farshekasha can consist of chicken, turkey, quail, chicken and turkey hearts, liver, stomachs, brains, as well as rolled oats, chopped barley and other ingredients. There are different recipes. Dog food is absolutely not suitable for domestic ferrets, but super premium kitten food can sometimes be given. There are special ferret foods on the market that are fortified with vitamins and minerals, so it is better to choose them.

In addition to protein foods, peeled vegetables and fruits can be added to your ferret's diet in small portions (bananas, pears, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, etc.). Once a week you can give a raw chicken or quail egg, chicken or turkey liver, raw turkey, chicken or rabbit. Please note that the ferret's diet should include meat from those birds and animals that he is able to catch himself in the wild.

It is important to control your pet, who may make a stash of perishable food items - this can lead to poisoning in the ferret.

Ferrets drink a lot, so there should always be a drinking bowl with clean water in your pet's cage.

  • Leonardo da Vinci depicted a ferret, not an ermine, in his painting “Lady with an Ermine”. In the 16th century, tame furos were kept at home along with cats - they successfully guarded grain reserves from mice and rats.
  • Some ferrets can sleep for days on end, and their sleep is so deep that it is impossible to wake the animals. This greatly frightens alarmed owners, although it is considered completely normal.
  • A ferret wagging its tail makes it clear that it is satisfied and happy, while a hissing ferret with a fluffy tail warns that you should not touch it: it is angry and may bite.
  • The rare ability of smart animals to get into the narrowest spaces was used when laying cables in Boeing aircraft and when installing communications for the Large Hadron Collider.

The ferret is the sweetest creature on the planet, which can bring both a lot of joy and a lot of trouble. This is an animal that causes thousands of smiles and loud laughter just because it shocks observers with its sleeping postures. This is a faithful companion and an omnipresent weasel, always trying to steal something from under the owner’s nose, hide it in the sofa and pretend as if nothing happened. That's right, we'll talk about ferrets, or rather, about those animals that we used to call ferrets.

It turns out that not every elongated animal that wears luxurious fur and has an incredibly cute face is a ferret.

The polecat is a representative of the genus of mammals that belong to the mustelidae family. This genus of predators includes the polecat, ermine, European mink and weasel. In some places on the planet you can find different representatives of the described species, but in the vastness of our homeland there are two of them:

  1. The forest polecat, which is also called the “common polecat,” “black polecat,” or “dark polecat.”
  2. The Amur steppe polecat, also called the “light polecat”.

In its natural habitat, the tkhor will prefer living in splendid isolation to being close to its relatives. Its maximum activity falls during the dark time of the day, at the same time the hunt for potential food occurs. These animals are carnivores, and their main food is rodents. Most often, gray voles are suitable for this role. The steppe ferret can also eat rodents that are slightly larger than an ordinary mouse, for example, gophers, hamsters and pikas. Near human habitations, you can easily find the consequences of this animal's meal in the chicken coop.

A ferret can be an animal whose body length does not exceed 50 cm for males and 40 cm for females. The tail is about 18 cm. In a calendar year, a female ferret can give birth to up to 3 litters of offspring. Each litter of an adult female can contain from 5 to 15 puppies. When little ferrets are born, they are blind and completely helpless. The mother feeds them milk until 2 weeks, and then begins to switch them to the diet familiar to predators.

In captivity, an animal of the ferret genus can live on average 3-4 years, and when there are no natural threats and shortages of food, these fluffies can live 5-7 years, in rare cases - 8.

Classification

The phrase “oh, what a cute ferret” can be heard in the zoo in relation to a huge number of animals. In the same way, these comrades can be confused by residents of villages and hamlets where predators like to roam. To figure out how many animals can be called ferrets, let’s find out what varieties this genus of the mustelid family is divided into:

  • subgenus Lutreola. It includes the European mink, Javan kolonok, kolonok or Siberian mink, Itasti, Malayan weasel.
  • subgenus Mustela. It includes the solongoi, the Transbaikal solongoi, the ermine, the long-tailed weasel, the yellow-bellied weasel, the common weasel, and the Egyptian weasel.
  • subgenus Grammogale. Includes Amazonian and Colombian weasel.
  • subgenus Putorius. It includes the Steppe Ferret, the American or Black-footed Ferret, the Wood Ferret and the Ferret.

Now we can look at some types in more detail.

Black polecat

The black polecat, which inhabits Eurasia, has 2 other forms: domesticated - ferret and furo - albino ferret. It is worth noting that all 3 forms of ferrets interbreed freely and produce different interesting variations in the colors of the animals.

If we talk about where exactly the black polecat lives, then this species is widespread throughout Western Europe, although today there is a tendency to rapidly reduce the habitat of this species.

The forest polecat is a very valuable fur-bearing animal, but its relatively low numbers do not allow special fishing for this animal. Actually, such a small number determines the price of its fur, and this same reason becomes the lever for the daily decrease in the population of the black ferret around the world.

This animal both pleases and saddens the villagers at the same time. On the one hand, it brings trouble due to constant raids on poultry houses and quite impressive damage to poultry farming. But on the other hand, this neighborhood looks beneficial: the black ferret massively exterminates rodents, which can do a lot of harm in agriculture.

Amur steppe ferret

The Amur, or light-colored, steppe polecat is the least numerous among its brothers. This animal is widespread in the northeastern part of China. On the territory of Russia, this species can be found in the Amur region in a small area that belongs to the Amur River.

Let's give a short description of this animal. The appearance of the light-colored ferret is typical for representatives of this species. The light, thick underfur is very clearly visible through the sparse brown guard hairs. It is thanks to this that a dark moire pattern is created throughout the ferret's body. The head is colored in a very unusual way: a coffee-brown mask is “put on” over the eyes, which is surrounded by an almost white area on the muzzle. The back of the head is dark, matching the face mask. The ears of a light ferret are white with a dark spot at the base. The abdomen is yellowish, and the chest, legs and groin are almost black.

It is impossible not to say a word about the nutrition of this lovely little animal. This animal is a hunter, and therefore prefers to hunt mice, pikas, gophers, ground birds, lizards, snakes, frogs, and in especially difficult times it can even eat large locusts. The polecat is an animal that, living near a body of water, will demonstrate excellent swimmer and diver skills.

Photos of this animal can be found less and less often on the Internet, just like taking this photo in nature. Currently, there is no data on the actual number of the Amur steppe ferret in its natural habitat. According to experts, the population of this animal species is very low and continues to decline rapidly. This was the main reason that the Red Book of the Russian Federation already contains a photo of one of the most beautiful representatives of the mustelid family. And who knows, maybe in a few years only in pictures and photographs our children will be able to see what the Amur steppe polecat was like. Preserving the ferret population is of paramount importance to everyone who cares about the fate of the world around us, and the black species also deserves attention.

The ferret is a predatory mammal from the genus of ferrets and weasels, belonging to the Mustelidae family. Often becomes a pet.

The body of the animal is flexible, low, elongated, with disproportionately short, strong, muscular legs. Thanks to its strong claws, the animal climbs trees and digs holes. The animals swim and move by jumping.

Size and weight depend on the species. The average length is 50 cm. Females are smaller than males, approximately 40 cm. Weight ranges from 300 g to 2 kg.

The neck is long, flexible, the head is elongated. The animal is famous for its fluffy tail, the length of which reaches 18 cm. Near the tail there are glands that secrete a secretion with a pungent odor. Necessary to scare away enemies.

The fur consists of thick underfur and guard hairs. The roots are light, the ends are dark. In the fall, the ferret sheds its coat and becomes shiny. The color depends on the species, ranging from light beige to black, white.

All animals, except white albinos, have a pattern on their faces that resembles a mask.

  • A wagging tail means the animal is happy.
  • A loose tail, a hiss is a warning that the ferret is not in the mood and may bite.
  • When the animal gets scared, it screams loudly.
  • Ferrets express love by licking their owner's hands and face. They like to kiss.
  • During games, animals hoot and males grunt. This is how they show satisfaction.
  • Sometimes the animal dances. He bounces on his paws and arches.

How long do ferrets live?

Ferrets live in the wild and in domestic environments. Life expectancy in the wild is 3-4 years, at home 5-7 years.

What do the animals eat?

These are predatory animals. They do not have a cecum and have difficulty digesting plant foods. The main diet is small rodents: mice, voles. In spring, animals love to climb into bird nests and hare holes. Large species attack muskrats. Occasionally they eat fish, lizards, and snakes. Animals make provisions for the winter.

The main method of hunting is waiting for the victim at the entrance to the home. Sometimes you need to catch up and catch prey. During periods of famine, they feed on food waste and destroy rabbit farms and poultry houses.

Range, habitats

Live in:

  • European countries,
  • Russia,
  • China,
  • countries of Central and Central Asia,
  • in northwest Africa.

To combat rats and mice, one of the species was brought to New Zealand, where it successfully took root.

Habitats:

  • steppes,
  • semi-deserts,
  • settlements.

The animals avoid open areas and dense taiga. They are attached to their habitat and lead a sedentary lifestyle. They rarely dig their own burrows, preferring to occupy other people's (fox, badger) burrows. They can settle in a haystack, the emptiness of an old tree.

Kinds

There are three main types:

  • steppe,
  • forest,
  • blackfoot.

Steppe or light ferret

Large, up to 56 cm long, weighs up to 2 kg, the tail in adult animals is 18 cm. The guard hair is brown, sparse, dense underfur is visible through the fur. The paws and tail are dark, and there is a mask on the face.

In the warm season, it feeds on gophers, mice, snakes, frogs, and less often birds. In winter, voles, hamsters, and food waste are eaten. Females are fertile, bearing 7-10, sometimes up to 18 cubs. The species is found in Europe, Central and Central Asia, and Russia. Lives in steppes, semi-steppes and semi-deserts.

The only subspecies of the Amur steppe polecat. The animal reaches a length of 56 cm, a tail of 18 cm, and a weight of up to 2 kg. The abdomen is light, the tip of the tail and paws are black, and there is a mask-like pattern on the muzzle. Habitat: northeast China, Middle Amur steppes (Russia).

Forest, common, or black ferret

Less steppe. Body length 36-48 cm, tail 15-17 cm in males, 8.5-17 cm in females, weight from 400 g to 1.5 kg. Females are one and a half times smaller than males. The color is black-brown, the tail, throat, and paws are almost black. There is a mask on the face. The forest ferret comes in pure white and red. It feeds on field mice, snakes, frogs, locusts, etc. It tears apart hare burrows and eats the young. It can live near populated areas and feed on poultry and rabbits. Females are not as fertile as female steppe ferrets: they give birth to 4-6 puppies.

Habitat: Eurasian territory. Inhabits groves and woodlands. It prefers to hunt on forest edges, which is why it is called an edge predator. To exterminate rodents, it was the black ferret that was brought to New Zealand, where it took root.

Subspecies ferret, domestic, or African ferret. It is a domesticated species, also called furo. Body length 51 cm, tail 13 cm, weight from 700 g to 2 kg. Furo is bred in its pure form and crossed with other individuals. Thus, a hybrid of a furo and a forest ferret is called a “chorefrete”. The first Russian breed is golden, obtained by crossing a forest ferret with a ferret. This is a large animal with thick silky fur. Black guard hair with orange underfur. Females are smaller, reaching 39 cm in length, males are larger, 46 cm.

Black-footed or American ferret

A rare species of North American predator. Listed in the Red Book as endangered. Smaller than brothers. Body length 31-41 cm, tail 11-15 cm, weight from 650 g to 1 kg. The hair coat is white at the base and dark at the tips, creating a yellow-brown color. Like other species, there is a characteristic mask on the face. Habitat: central USA. It feeds on mice, voles, and gophers. In the 1980s, the remaining American ferrets were caught for artificial breeding and released into the wild in some states.

Reproduction and lifespan

The breeding season is from late winter to late summer, depending on the range. In steppe ferrets, breeding occurs in early spring, in forest ferrets in April-May, sometimes in the second half of June. The animal reaches sexual maturity at 10-12 months. There are no marriage rituals. They mate aggressively. The male takes the female by the withers, the females resist. On the withers of the female, traces of the male’s teeth remain visible.

The gestation period lasts one and a half months, the litter ranges from 4 to 18 cubs. Breastfeeding lasts approximately 2.5 months; from the fourth week, the mother begins to feed the puppies meat. The small animal weighs 5-10 g. It is born blind and helpless, but quickly grows and develops.

At the age of 7-8 weeks, babies are able to hunt, but continue to feed on mother's milk. The mother protects the offspring when a threat appears. Up to six months, the cubs hunt with their mother, gain experience, and then begin to live an independent life.

Caring for a ferret at home

Before you get a ferret at home, you need to know the characteristics of the animal. This is a very active animal, so it cannot be kept in a cage all the time.

Ferrets get along with cats and calm dogs, but birds and rodents are prey for them to hunt. You should not keep them next to rabbits or chinchillas.

Like any other pet, your ferret needs to be vaccinated. To prevent allergic reactions, an antihistamine must be administered before the procedure.

The animals are also used for breeding. If it is not intended to breed, the female must be sterilized and the male castrated. This is important because during puberty the animal emits a specific odor. It is recommended to bathe him once a week using a special shampoo to avoid odor.

A domestic ferret sleeps and eats in a cage. It needs to be equipped with a house or a hammock. Some animals sleep for several days. This is normal, don't worry about it. You can train the animal to close the cage. It is easy to train him to the tray, and you can put two toilets at once.

The domestic ferret is very curious and explores the most secluded places. He loves to play in the trash can, where he can fall asleep. The rodent drags surrounding small objects into its mouth, even inedible ones, and regularly digs up mounds of flowers.

The ferret is a carnivore. He needs protein food: porridge with minced meat, special food. Porridge with minced meat can consist of meat and poultry offal, rolled oats, barley and other ingredients. You cannot offer the animal dog food; you are allowed to give premium food for kittens. It is better to choose special food for ferrets, enriched with essential vitamins and microelements.

Veterinarians recommend introducing pre-peeled vegetables and fruits into the diet. Once a week you can give a raw egg, raw chicken, chicken liver. The food should contain meat from animals and birds that the ferret can catch in the wild. It is important to ensure that he does not hide perishable foods, as he may be poisoned by them. The ferret drinks a lot, so there should always be clean water in the cage.

The ferret is an amazing animal. He's handsome and funny. At home, an animal can bring a lot of positive emotions, especially to children. The main thing is not to forget that the animal requires care.