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AnAge entry for Mustela putorius

Classification (HAGRID: 02548)
TaxonomyKingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Carnivora
                Family: Mustelidae
                    Genus: Mustela
SpeciesMustela putorius
Common nameEuropean polecat

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

Maximum longevity11.1 years (captivity)
Sourceref. 671
Sample sizelarge
Data qualityacceptable
Observations

In the wild, these animals live about 5-6 years [0434]. One captive specimen lived 11.1 years [0671]. Anecdotal reports that these animals live up to 14 years in captivity remain unconfirmed [0001].

Life history traits (averages)

Female sexual maturity312 days
Male sexual maturity322 days
Gestation42 days
Weaning63 days
Litter size7.5 (viviparous)
Litters per year1.5
Inter-litter interval140 days
Weight at birth9.5 g
Weight at weaning
Adult weight809 g
Postnatal growth rate0.0328 days-1 (from Gompertz function)
Maximum longevity residual81 %

Metabolism

No information on metabolism available.

References
[0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0198] Raj et al. (1992), Age-related differences in vascular effects of pentoxifylline in isolated perfused ferret lungs, PubMed
[0197] Walsh and Guillery (1985), Age-related fiber order in the optic tract of the ferret, PubMed
[0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves
[0001] Longevity Records: Life Spans of Mammals, Birds, Amphibians, Reptiles, and Fish

External resources

Integrated Taxonomic Information SystemITIS 621954
Animal Diversity WebADW account
Encyclopedia of LifeSearch EOL
Genome ProjectSearch NCBI
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