In some parts of the USA, Polecat = Skunk. I still recall many years ago in southern Ohio, a friend had picked up some skunk babies in a field he was plowing and put them in a cardboard box. Back at home when his older brother came home and looked in the box, he jumped back and yelled POLECATS! : )
Im not sure what it is with Polecats, Pine Martens etc but it is possible to get quite close to them before: 1. they either seem to notice you or 2. they start to care. Maybe they have poor vision or smell.
@@soramirez5473 Can't be an evolutionary lack of polecat/ferret predators as some sort of dog/cat is pretty much everywhere (well, before us humans moved in) and I'd think they've learned what to stay away from 🤔 domestic raised is completely diff as they haven't learned that sort of stuff, though I'd think some remnants of survival instinct would be inherent.
@@DougguoD yea but that wouldnt account for the fact that a cat runs AWAY from vacuums and plastic noisy bags, and ferrets run TOWARDS them.. and if we see video of ANY mustelid, its obvious that weasals, ferrets, minks, badgers and wolverines dont scare easy, even from predators MUCH bigger than themselves.. given that members in that family seem to be more brave than smart, its logical to assume this ferret didnt care, as oppose to not seen the cat.
If you look closely, you can see it's facial markings and it's lightly colored ears. There seems to be a light patch above it's eyes. I think this is a polecat, just a very dark colored one. Or if it's a mink, it must be an european one, judging by the white fur around its snout
This is great to film both in the same area. I love wildlife,im in the UK. What country are you in? I have kept ferrets many years, the domestic cousins of the polecat. I've only seen one in the wild, unfortunately mostly dead ones on the roads. I've just subscribed and look forward to watching more of your films 😊👍
I'm Irish living in Denmark- Zealand. It's the outskirts of a bog. I've seen the pinemarten a bit more than I've seen the polecat. I have spent ages looking out for it/them (polecats), even since I stumbled across a wee one that met a cat. Far too far away for a proper film. 🙂
@@Ayniadk Oh Denmark, it's interesting to see the same wildlife in various parts of Europe as in the UK , except there is more to see in Europe obviously. The area you live looks great. I've watched your film, the polecat and ginger cat. Shall watch more. Thanks
😂😂😂😂 clearly you guys don’t know what a polecat is.. the polecat smells are 10 times worse than a skunk so he wasn’t afraid of the cat and the cat instinctively knew better
First time I see the name Polecat being used, had to look it up.😂 Marten, Mink, Weasel, Ermine, Ferret. Names I know, and names I mix up quite easily. Even in my own language. Nice to have one more in the mix. 😅
The whole mustelid family is full of really cool animals. + the marbled polecat looks like somebody stuffed their ferret into some old beanie babies. Crazy looking guys.
They are quite short lived and you have to be in the right place at the right time- I try to place my holidays and/or free weekends to hit the 10th July in Denmark. But if the weather has been too cold they come later, or too hot and they come earlier. If you know for sure they are in a place, you can make some banana bait and put it on some oak trees. There has to be a bit of wind and it has to be along the edge of a path with the wind going into the trees. You will know if the banana bait works of you get red admirals and commas. They usually arrive within 10-15 minutes. I didn't use bait for the ones in the film, but tried to lure females with bait but only got males. 🙂
@@Ayniadk Fascinating, I’d never thought about baiting them, that’s cheating! I did wonder how you managed to film them near ground level. I’d always assumed they were in the canopy. Thank you, all of your filming is amazing, I now know you use a few tricks which is clever. You should consider contacting the natural history unit of the BBC, in Bristol, UK. I’m sure they are always looking for a talent like yours, and if not, they should be. Thank you again, a real joy for me. You next task is to get a purple hairstreak down from the oak canopy, I’ve scoured RU-vid and there is no good quality footage, you’d be the first!
I found these ones by accident. I didn't know they were at that particular spot. I didn't see any before 12.00 noon and the first one was on the ground (the stones/relatively hard path with some pebbles. The weather had been unusually hot for a few weeks. So I think they needed a drink. You sometimes see them on fox poop, which is not photogenic, but if you look for them on the ground it's a lot easier than trying to see them in the treetops. It was filmed on the outskirts of a peat bog, so most of the ground is peaty. They seemed to like the heat. Lucilky there was a tree stump which one liked, so it was a slightly better angle. When I think of it, I don't see them when it's dull and humid - even if I go to a spot where I know they live. Purple hairstreak is a lot more difficult (cos it's so small) and oddly enough I filmed one once, not very well - speck in the frame, while I was waiting for a tawny owl to stick its head up. Sometimes you can see a hairstreak at eyelevel, but I haven't been lucky enough to get the tripod up to the right level etc before it flies off. @@yp77738yp77739
@@Ayniadk All Lepidoptera (and I assume all herbivorous eukaryotes) need certain additional elemental mineral salts in their diets, a good source away from the coast is faeces and urine of carnivores. I don’t understand the evolutionary significance, but light in the purple spectrum seems to have a unique psychological effect on humans, that’s why religious organisations often utilise it. Perhaps in our past, or even in our antecedent species, purple coloured fruits were an important part of our diet and the ability to find them was an evolutionary. Anyway, I will try in some oak forests next year using your advice, thank you. I used to be part of a national amateur entomologist group when I was young, I remember we went out in large groups specifically looking for them, but never saw any. I have 2 very large oaks in my garden and we live near peat bogs, but again never seen any! My dogs woke me up and I found myself outside in September at about 03.00 am. It was 3 hours before sunrise and I saw a very strange bird fly past me in the moonlight and I still don’t know what it was. It was about the same size as a thrush, but it was very dark in colour ( it appeared to be black and glossy in the moonlight), incredible fast and completely silent (similar to an owl) as it flew past me and flew into some dense undergrowth without making a single noise. So fast I didn’t get a close look at what it was, I had it in view for less than 1 second. It definitely wasn’t an owl and thought it appeared too dark to be a nightjar, and it was too large to confuse it with a bat. Any ideas as to what it might of been?
Polecat to me is a nickname for a skunk. Even though I’ve lived for about a decade in Europe, I had never heard of a European Polecat. Looked it up..yep, that’s a polecat and one very confused cat.
