Talk:European Polecat

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[edit] Odor?

Can European polecats spray an odor, like skunks?

Given that domestic ferrets can, I'd be surprised if their European ancestors couldn't. Note, though, that ferrets cannot spray their musk very far, and unlike that of the skunk, the odour dissipates within a few minutes. Psychonaut 17:07, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

''I have 6 pet ferrets, and they don't stink at all!!''

It's definitely noticable though, if you've been on the smelly end, and indoors.

Yes, all mustelids can, though the effectiveness on a predator varies. Some don't use their musk in defense, only for communication.61.230.79.242 04:19, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Their name in French is putois, which more or less means "the one who stinks". I cartoons, skunk is generally translated as putois. I think it is pretty self explenatory. --Arskoul 07:03, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ancestry

I am going to take out the line referring to the Berber polecat (M.p. berberii) as being a debated ancestor of M.p. furo. While I acknowledge this information can be obscure, there is no reference provided and when I conducted a search through Google, Google Scholar, Ebsco, ScienceDirect and Web of Science I could find no reference to the Berber polecat being an identified species, let alone a debated ancestor of the ferret. The only place I could find reference to the Berber polecat was on web pages that were citing this wiki article. If someone has a reference proving the existence of the Berber polecat and it's relation to the ferret, that would be great and we can add the Berber back in. wagors 16:54, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Photo

From the Danish description of this image, these are polecats at a zoo in Denmark (despite the English description "ferrets"). Here is a page from the zoo in question showing the polecat. --Cam 16:02, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] They aren't skunks

• I thought a polecat was a slang word for a skunk, I remember one episode of Garfield and Friends where they went to a dude ranch called Polecat Ranch or something and Garfield or John or somebody didn't know what a polecat was and than a skunk showed up and everybody freaked out.

[edit] New Wikiproject

I wanted to make a wikiproject about ferrets and weasels but it became to small a range so i have made a bigger wikiprojects including all animals in the Musteloidea super family which include both ferrets and weasels and much similar animals. Support would be appreceated.

This new wikiproject includes the European Polecat

you can find it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Proposals#Weasels

i also made a little template for the project,

I hope you like it.

This wikiproject is for the superfamily of Musteloidea which currently and surprisingly does not have an article yet. This superfamily includes ferrets and weasels and all of our other furry little weasel like friends. Please put your name on it so this article could have it's very own wikiproject outside of wikiproject animals.

Teh Ferret 19:56, 26 April 2007 (UTC)