The bandage (Vormela peregusna) is a predator from the mustelidae family (Mustelidae). This rare animal is sometimes called the “marbled ferret” for its unusual spotted coloring and resemblance to its closest relatives. But unlike martens, the bandage is much smaller in size and has more a long tail. Its body is only 27-37 cm long, its tail is 18-22 cm, and its weight is 370-720 g.
Habitat of the dressing - Eastern Europe, Front and central Asia. Unlike other mustelids, its fur is not valuable, however, some subspecies of the bandage are in the Red Book. These unusual animals live in dry areas with a minimum of vegetation - in steppes, semi-deserts, and deserts. They are also found on foothill plateaus and in the mountains at an altitude of up to 3000 m. Burrows of the “marbled ferret” can be found in forest-steppes, parks and vineyards, and in human settlements.
The dressing is distinguished by a pronounced contrasting color of the fur - black, yellow and white colors are combined into a unique alternation of stripes and spots. Black pointed muzzle with a white stripe - a bandage and a large white spot on the chin and around the mouth. The ears are unusually large. The tail is long, bushy and multi-colored - from rusty brown at the beginning to black-brown at the tip. The fur of the bandage, unlike other mustelids, is coarse and short, and in case of danger it stands on end.
With a rather long body, it has short legs, so it seems that the bandage is constantly pressed to the ground. The pose in which the bandage meets danger - rising high on its paws, throwing its fluffy tail over its back - resembles the pose of a skunk. At the same time, she bares her teeth and growls. IN as a last resort, for protection, the carriage uses its anal scent glands, spraying secretions from them. When kept at home, these glands are painlessly removed.
In nature, the bandage is a nocturnal and twilight animal, which is why it is most active during these hours. During the day, the animals prefer to rest in holes that they have dug themselves or taken from others. Outside the mating season, the marbled ferret prefers loneliness. Doesn't get into fights with other brothers.
The reproduction of “marbled ferrets” is not fully understood. The female's pregnancy lasts almost 11 months. There are from 3 to 6 cubs in a litter, rarely 8. Females become sexually mature at three months, and males only at one year.
Bandages are common predators. They feed on small rodents, lizards, birds, snakes, and love eggs, berries, various fruits, as well as melons and watermelons. At home, banded cubs, like ferrets, are fed a mixture of milk with a raw egg and small portions of meat (brain, liver, heart, kidneys are best). Grown-up animals need natural prey -
Recently, a completely extraordinary incident occurred in our clinic. We got a ferret from a pet store. The ferret turned out to be not accustomed to captivity and being kept in a cage. In an effort to break free, the baby injured the skin on the bridge of his nose. The wound looked terrible, even the bones of the skull were visible. But it was too early to give up, and we tried to treat.
The store owner was told that the head wound would need to be treated twice a day, and ferret needs to be left as an inpatient at the clinic. But the lady considered that the treatment would be too expensive for her, and asked to euthanize the animal.
Putting a tiny creature to sleep? No! My colleagues and I could not do this. We bought medicine for him with our own funds, arranged a new home and treated the animal ourselves, deciding later to give him into good hands. The treatment was complicated by the fact that the animal was completely wild. It is very difficult to contain the squirming, biting and growling lump, and at the same time treat the wound, clean it of crusts, trying not to get caught by the ferret's teeth.
It was difficult to treat him, but we managed to do it!
At the first glance at the ferret, we noticed its unusual color. But to our shame, we didn’t immediately understand what kind of animal it was: why did we care that he wasn’t like the others? ferrets. A cat can have five kittens of different colors in one litter! I personally thought this way. But my colleague turned out to be more curious. She looked through a lot of material on the Internet and found out what kind of animal it was!
the bandage is a very interesting animal. Its name is explained by the peculiarities of its coloring: wide white stripes on a dark muzzle - “bands”. The variegated coloring of the body distinguishes the bandage from all mustelids of our fauna. The back is brownish-brown with bright yellow spots and stripes. The tail is black-brown. The chest, limbs and tip of the tail are black.
Dressing It is distinguished by its small size, the total length of the body is 26.5-35 cm, the tail is 13.5-18.5 cm. These small sizes misled us, and we thought that a baby had fallen into our hands. But it was already almost an adult. The fur of the dressing is sparse and rather low. Perevyazka is a resident of the steppes, semi-deserts and deserts of South-Eastern Europe, Western, Middle and partly Central Asia.
In our country it can be found in the Don steppes, semi-deserts and deserts Central Asia. However, plowing and development of these lands are reducing the habitat of the animal, and bandaging is becoming less and less common. Now ferret dressing It is so rare that it was listed in the Red Book.
Having learned that it turns out that a rare animal lives with us, we immediately contacted the zoo in Rostov-on-Don. They gladly agreed to take him into their care. By the way, he won’t be the only one there.
And we hope he enjoys his new home!
New from users
Okra dishes are unusual. The taste resembles something between asparagus and eggplant. Okra is prepared almost the same way...
Do rusty spots appear on pear leaves? This is a sure sign of the presence of a dangerous disease - rust. She...
A broken shovel is a real disaster for a summer resident. Not only are we deprived of a reliable assistant, we will also have to...
Most popular on the site
01/18/2017 / Veterinarian
I don’t know about beginning winegrowers, but every year I rack my brains over...
03/05/2019 / Grapes
BUSINESS PLAN for breeding chinchillas from Pl...
IN modern conditions economy and the market as a whole for starting a business...
12/01/2015 / Veterinarian
Whoever tries this method of growing seedlings will never again...
01.03.2019 / People's Reporter
Do rusty spots appear on pear leaves? This sure sign presence...
05.03.2019 / People's Reporter
If you compare people who sleep completely naked under the covers and those...
11/19/2016 / Health
Spring conspiracy against garden pests...
Just recently I found out that great amount they don’t know gardeners or...
04.03.2019 / People's Reporter
Lunar-sowing calendar of the gardener...
11.11.2015 / Vegetable garden
It is best to prepare not only the holes for cucumbers, but also the entire bed....
04/30/2018 / Vegetable garden
Growing okra: secrets of planting and care...
Okra dishes are unusual. The taste resembles something between spar...
05.03.2019 / People's Reporter
Area: Southeastern Europe; Western, Central and partially Central Asia (Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Macedonia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia and Montenegro, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan).
Description: the body shape of the dressing is similar to that of a ferret, only smaller in size. The muzzle is dumber than that of a ferret, the ears are large, the tail is fluffy. The fur is sparse and short.
Color: peculiar - across the head (above the eyes) there is a wide white stripe. The area around the mouth and chin are white. There are 1-3 white spots on the back of the head. Ears with long white hairs. The back is brownish-brown with bright yellow spots and stripes. The tail is black-brown. The chest, limbs and tip of the tail are black. On the neck, light spots form three clear longitudinal stripes, connecting at the back of the head.
Size: body length 26.5-35 cm, tail 13.5-18.5 cm.
Weight: females 295-600 g, males 320-715 g.
Lifespan: in nature 6-8 years.
Habitat: steppes and deserts, sometimes found among shrubs and sparse forests. IN mountainous areas rises to 2500 m a.s.l. Found in abandoned lands around cities and towns.
Enemies: the main enemy is man.
Food: small animals - and other animals.
In captivity, bandages eat meat and mice, and enjoy eating raw chicken eggs with pleasure.
Behavior: in places with an abundance of food, leads a sedentary lifestyle. Settles in colonies large gerbils and in gopher burrows. The bandage is active in the evening and morning hours, and spends the day in the hole. The resting place changes daily. She digs holes with her front paws, while pushing with her hind paws. The teeth are used when pulling various obstacles out of the hole, for example, plant roots. It hunts only in burrows; in an hour, bandaging can kill up to 4 victims.
Sometimes the bandage hunts with the fox. She runs through the holes, the frightened animals fly out, but when they see the fox, they immediately rush back. Those who do not have time to hide become the victim of the fox, those who do manage to become the prey of the dressing.
It moves 500-600 m per day in rodent colonies located in its hunting area.
In case of danger, the bandage takes a threatening pose: it rises, throws its tail over its back, bares its teeth and growls loudly. If, despite her threats, danger is still approaching, the animal resorts to the last resort: without changing its position, it rushes with a loud, piercing and sharp cry at its offender and splashes out a foul-smelling secretion from the glands located under its tail.
Social structure: a solitary animal, when two same-sex individuals meet, aggression is observed between them.
Reproduction: There is little information about reproduction. Only the female cares for the young, although it is possible that the male does as well.
Breeding season/period: Aug. Sept.
Pregnancy: accompanied by a latent stage. The duration of pregnancy is about two months.
Offspring: The female gives birth to 3-8 puppies. Newborn cubs are blind and already have well-formed claws on their paws. There is no fur. The body, head and limbs are covered with sparse whitish hairs. The skin is dark. The eyes open at 40 days of age. Lactation lasts up to 55 days. Puppies grow quickly and leave their mother at the age of 60-68 days.
Benefit/harm for humans: the dressing is obtained by chance, because her fur has no value. At the same time, it exterminates rodents - carriers of dangerous infectious diseases.
Population/Conservation Status: dressing - rare beast with a rapidly shrinking range. There is no exact information about the number. The South Russian subspecies is listed in the IUCN-96 Red List.
The main limiting factors: plowing of virgin steppes and fallow lands leads to a decrease in the range and a noticeable reduction in the number of the species. Animals die by eating rodents poisoned by insecticides and by falling into traps set for steppe ferrets and gophers.
Several subtypes of dressing are known: Vormela peregusna peregusna, V. p. Alpherakyi, V. p. Koshovnikovi, V. p. pallidov.
Copyright holder: Zooclub portal
When reprinting this article, an active link to the source is MANDATORY, otherwise, use of the article will be considered a violation of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights.
The ferret belongs to the mustelid family of predators, is listed in the Red Book, and is the only kind kind. Because of the beauty and originality of their fur coloring, they are called “marbled ferrets” or ferrets.
Ferret dressing: description, characteristics
Externally, the dressing or bandage resembles a miniature ferret, literal translation Latin name (vormela peregusna) means "little worm". His muzzle is slightly rounded, his ears are large with white trim. The body shape is characteristic of the mustelid family: an elongated narrow body and short legs. Its main difference is the beautiful original variegated color of the coarse fur, consisting of alternating white, black and yellow spots on a brown background.
As can be seen from the photo and description, the bandage ferret is a very cute animal in appearance. Its body is 27-38 cm long, the tail is up to 17-20 cm, the weight of an adult animal is 350-750 g. The muzzle is black, over the eyes there is a snow-white stripe, similar to a sling, for which it was given such a name. There is a large white-beige spot around the mouth, and the neck is decorated with 3 light stripes. The back is covered with a complex pattern of multi-colored spots and stripes, the fluffy tail is also beautifully colored: at the base it is reddish-brown, turns into light gray, and at the end it is black-brown. The chest and legs are black.
Banded ferrets live 6-7 years in the wild, sometimes up to 9 in the zoo.
The character of the bandage is combative; when attacked by enemies, it first escapes on a tree, and when there is an immediate threat, it arches its back, raises its fur, shows its teeth, throwing its head back. The terrifying appearance is confirmed by a growl, squeal, and the animal rushes and releases a foul-smelling liquid from under its tail from special anal glands.
Distribution area
The polecat lives in the southeastern part of Europe, Asia, and some regions of China. In Russia, animals are found in the south of the European part ( Krasnodar region etc.), in Altai and Ciscaucasia. Peregrines also live in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Transcaucasia and the steppes of Central Asia.
The main zone of residence is open steppe spaces, treeless, sometimes covered with shrubs, the outskirts of forests, river valleys, forest-steppe and semi-desert plains. Occasionally, hori-bandages are found in the mountains up to a height of 3 km, they are also found in public gardens, and often settle near the melon area.
They choose their places of residence in ready-made burrows of other animals, sometimes they dig them themselves, using paws with long claws and teeth for removing stones. During the daytime they sit in a shelter, and change it daily.
On the territory of the CIS there are 2 types of dressings (typical and Trans-Caspian), slightly different in coat coloring.
Nutrition and lifestyle
The lifestyle of the banded ferret is characterized by evening activity, so in nature it is hardly noticeable. The predator hunts more often underground, occasionally in trees. Its main food consists of small rodents: voles, hamsters, jerboas, gophers, gerbils. Sometimes it eats bird eggs, berries, and also likes to eat plant foods: melons, fruits of shrubs (rose hips, sloes, grapes, hawthorn).
Peregrines hunt in their own territory of 10-30 hectares; in search of prey, the animal can travel up to 600 m through underground passages in a day, guided by its sense of smell. There are known cases of gerbils hunting together with foxes. Moreover, during ground hunting, animals can jump up to 60 cm in length.
When meeting each other, bandages show aggression, but more often they each live on their own territory, spending the night in their next hole.
Reproduction of dressings
Scientists have little information about ferret reproduction. Active mating in pairs occurs in summer time. It is known that pregnancy in a female lasts up to 11 months, which is associated with the intrauterine development of the egg, which begins to develop only several months after fertilization.
A litter produces 3-8 blind cubs weighing 3-4 g, which occurs between February and March. Their first fur is a light beige color, not similar to the adult color, but the future fur pattern can be seen on the dark skin. The babies feed on their mother's milk for 40-50 days and develop quickly, and then they begin learning to hunt.
Puberty in young bandages occurs: in females - at 3 months, in males - at one year.
There are some known cases of keeping polecats in European and Russian zoos. The animals are successfully bred in the Leningrad and Rostov zoos.
This animal has a wild disposition, but is well tamed. Some hobbyists keep them at home. Due to the high activity of animals, they need a spacious cage or enclosure. In order to get rid of unpleasant odor, they painlessly remove the anal glands. Cubs caught in captivity can be fed a mixture of milk and raw eggs.
Dressing in the Red Book
The number of this species of martens in last decades is sharply declining, its habitat is decreasing, mainly due to the development of steppe lands with the expansion of agricultural areas. Its fur has no value; it is only harvested by poachers. In nature, the animal brings benefits by destroying small rodents that harm agriculture and spread infectious diseases.
The decrease in the number of polecats is also associated with the widespread disappearance of the main prey of this predator - ground squirrels and mole rats. They often die from poisoning by insecticides used to poison pests, or in traps set for steppe rodents.
In Ukraine, it lives on the territory of Lugansk and Ukrainian state reserves. In 2017, a coin was released dedicated to this rare predator and endangered species.
The bandage is a small predator, similar in appearance to. Translated from Latin as “little worm.” This is a rather rare animal, and is not as common as its closest relatives: ferrets and.
The bandage, re-legging or ferret-bandage has a small, elongated and narrow body, reaching 38 cm in length. The animal weighs about 700 g. The female and the male do not differ from each other in appearance.
This animal stands out for its unusual coloring. Its main color is dark chestnut, and along the entire back it alternates fancifully, forming complex patterns of white, black and yellow spots. Its fur is low and rough, so the animal is always slightly disheveled.
On the small black and white blunt muzzle there are incredibly big ears, covered with long light hairs. paws dressings short compared to the body animal and therefore it seems that the animal is pressed to the ground.
The fluffy tail ends in a small tassel and is also multi-colored. The dressing is not very talkative. Her vocalizations include high-pitched signal calls, grunts, purrs, and long-drawn squeals. When frightened, she growls angrily and displeasedly.
Dressing can be called desert animals, since it occurs in this natural area, overgrown with saxaul. Occasionally climbs mountains to a height of up to 3 km. The habitat of this animal starts from the Balkan Peninsula to the north-west of Mongolia and China. They are not afraid of people and can choose a park, vineyard or vegetable gardens as a place to live.
Character and lifestyle of dressing
Bandages lead an active lifestyle at night or with the onset of the first twilight. During the day, they prefer to sleep in shelters that they have made themselves or use ready-made ones.
They do not stay in it constantly, but choose something new every day. Each animal has its own territory, approximately 500 m2, over which it constantly moves in search of food.
Hori dressings They love solitude, except during the mating season, and when meeting with fellow animals they can behave quite aggressively, defending the occupied territory.
At the moment of danger, the bandage tries to run away to a tree or hide in a hole. If this is impossible, then the animal takes a threatening pose. At the same time, he rises on his paws, throws his tail over his back and, baring his teeth, emits a loud roar. If the offender does not react to this, then the bandage rushes into the fray and sprays a foul-smelling secretion from the anal gland.
The animal most often hunts rodents in their own burrows, although it can easily do this in trees. They see poorly, so their main tool for getting food is their sense of smell. In search of a victim, they can travel up to 600 m, moving through underground passages.
Interesting fact in the hunt dressings is that she sometimes teams up with another animals-, to attack the colony. guards rodents at the exits of burrows, and dressing destroys them in the underground passages themselves.
You can find this animal by the tracks it leaves. They are paired and slightly askew. Exploring the area in zigzags, the animal stops and slightly raises its muzzle.
If you don’t like something, then stand up hind legs, like , column. This significantly increases the view of the dressing. If there is no danger, then the movement continues.
When there is enough food, the animal can live its entire life in its small territory; if there is a shortage, it begins to migrate. Sometimes dressing keep houses like pet can be seen often photo playing with people animal. Caring for him is no different from a ferret. The owners of such an exotic animal note this curious and good-natured disposition.
Feeding dressing
Bandages are omnivores, but they prefer meat. They hunt rodents: gerbils, . Often they then settle in their burrows. Less commonly, birds or small vertebrates can become prey: , .
They will not refuse to eat eggs, berries or tree fruits. Living in vegetable gardens, they eat the pulp of melons and watermelons. At home, they are given milk, cheese, cottage cheese, bread and raw chicken.
Reproduction and lifespan
Life expectancy in nature is 6-7 years, in captivity they live up to almost 9. Mating season(rut) lasts from June to August. When a male sees a female, he calls her with the cooing of a pigeon. The process itself does not take much time, and after that the female leaves.
To date no descriptions, How dressing chooses a partner from everyone animals of its own kind. Most likely, it depends on the proximity of one or the other applicant.
Pregnancy lasts up to 11 months, this happens because fetal development does not begin immediately, but after the egg “rests”. Small bandage puppies are born up to 8 pieces. They are blind with flattened ears facing forward.
But after a couple of hours they already begin to stick out perpendicularly. The babies are almost naked, only covered with sparse whitish hairs. On the dark skin of a puppy - dressings a drawing is visible looks How adult color animal.
Well-formed claws are already visible on the paws. The eyes appear in bandaged puppies on the 40th day, and breast-feeding stops after 1.5 months. After another two weeks, they set out on their own. In captivity, males participate in raising babies.
Young animals grow very quickly, and already at 3 months the female reaches the age of sexual maturity. Males lag behind and can become fathers only after a year. In the 20th century, the number of this animal fell sharply.
This is not due to the value of its fur, but to the plowing of fields where the bandages' habitat was. The use of chemicals to exterminate rodents has deprived them of food, and population growth directly depends on the food supply.
Hunting for the bandage is prohibited and its life is being studied to breed a declining species in special receivers. Now this is quite problematic, because in captivity bandages breed with great reluctance.
Loading...
