Ferret - White Fury

Steppe or White Ferret — Mustela (Putorius) eversmanni Lessor. (in Kyrgyz: сасык-кусен, ач-кусон)

The ferret is about the size of a small cat with a long body covered in even straw-gray fur, dark brown between the eyes, on the belly, paws, and tip of the tail. In Kyrgyzstan, the Turkestan subspecies is found, which provides relatively good quality fur. It is widespread throughout the republic. It inhabits open areas - in the steppe, semi-desert, high mountains, spreading across steppe sections of river valleys, from lowlands to stony zones. It usually occupies the burrows of its prey, having not one but several.

Its population is directly dependent on the abundance of open spaces rich in rodents. It does not have permanent hunting grounds. In summer, it feeds on frogs, lizards, snakes, birds, insectivores, and carrion. In the mountains, it preys on marmots. In winter, it feeds on mice, hamsters, sand rats, and nutria. In the Chui Valley, ferrets have been intensively pursuing the acclimatized nutria here. In the high mountains, they destroy marmots.

In the stomachs of ferrets, remnants of forest dormice, mice, fish, and birds (thrush) have been found. Observations in the Chui Valley show that they primarily feed on ground squirrels and striped sand rats.

Ferrets' caches have been found in burrows, consisting of 8-12 bodies of yellow ground squirrels, obtained during hibernation.

In lowland areas, the ferret occupies the burrows of ground squirrels and sand rats, expanding and deepening them. In the high mountains, it settles in ferret burrows.

The mating season in lowland areas begins in mid-February. Some females, by the end of February - beginning of March in the Chui Valley, already had quite large embryos. In the litters that appear in April-May, there can be up to 18-19 offspring, while in stony areas - in June-July, there are from 4 to 16 offspring (usually 8-10).

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