[2] It has a shorter, more compact body than other Mustela species,[3] a more powerfully built skull and dentition,[4] is less agile,[5] and is well known for having the characteristic ability to secrete a particularly foul-smelling liquid to mark its territory.

[12] The European polecat is thought to be the sole ancestor of the ferret, which was domesticated more than 2,000 years ago for the purpose of hunting vermin.

During modern times, the polecat is still scantly represented in popular culture when compared to other rare British mammals, and misunderstandings of its behaviour still persist in some rural areas.

[citation needed] In Old French, the polecat was called fissau, which was derived from the Low German and Scandinavian verb for "to make a disagreeable smell".

However there were a host of others including endless spelling variations: philbert, fulmer, fishock, filibart, poulcat, poll cat, etc.

The oldest modern polecat fossils occur in Germany, Britain and France, and date back to the Middle Pleistocene.

foetens (Thunberge, 1789) foetidus (Gray, 1843) iltis (Boddaert, 1785) infectus (Ogérien, 1863) manium (Barrett-Hamilton, 1904) putorius (Blyth, 1842) verus (Brandt in Simashko, 1851) vison (de Sélys Longchamps, 1839) vulgaris (Griffith, 1827)

[50] The winter fur of the European polecat is brownish black or blackish brown, the intensity of which is determined by the colour of the long guard hairs.

In Central Europe, the diet in winter months is dominated by birds including quail, grey partridges, grouse, chickens, pigeons and passerines.

[59] Some species only rarely preyed upon by the polecat include European hedgehogs, asp vipers, grass snakes, lizards and insects.

[60] The European polecat hunts its prey by stalking it and seizing it with its canine teeth, killing the animal with a bite to the neck.

[13] Typically, first generation crossbreeds between polecats and ferrets develop their wild parents' fear of humans if left with their mothers during the critical socialisation period between 7½ and 8½ weeks of age.

[68] A polecat-mink hybrid has a poorly defined facial mask, yellow fur on the ears, grey-yellow underfur and long, dark brown guard hairs.

[70] The European polecat is widespread in the western Palaearctic to the Urals in the Russian Federation, though it is absent from Ireland, northern Scandinavia, and much of the Balkans and eastern Adriatic coast.

[1] There are ... some extreme examples, but the fact remains that throughout England and Wales polecats were consistently persecuted at a greater intensity than any other species of mustelid.

The developing sporting estates then administered the coup de grâce.In Britain, the European polecat was regarded as a serious poultry predator prior to the introduction of wire netting, therefore eliminating it was considered the only option to protect stock.

Perhaps this animal was not generally considered to be an important pest, but whatever the real reason, in only two parishes are direct references made to this species by the name by which we know it today.

In the years from 1729 to 1732 about twenty were killed in Towyn parish, where 2/6 was paid for a full-grown polecat and half this sum for a young 'kittin'.

Records for Llanfor.... show that only 42 were killed in the 39-year period from 1720 to 1758, the payment being exactly half the going rate for a fox, i.e. 2/6 for a full-grown polecat, and 1/3 for a young animal".

[72] In Kent, for example, at least 42 parishes paid bounties for polecats, of which three extended into the 19th century, though by this time only single individuals were recorded, and usually after gaps of many years.

[75] A survey carried out by the Vincent Wildlife Trust in 2015 found that the polecat had spread into areas (such as East Anglia and South Yorkshire) where they had not been seen for 100 years.

"[76] The New Forest in Hampshire also now has a small polecat population, a fact discovered after scientists set up cameras to film pine martens.

It is, however, especially abundant in the irrigated Crau, but is absent on the eastern part of the area, apparently being restricted by the valleys of the Durance and Rhone Rivers.

The European polecat is absent from the Saratov steppes of Transvolga, instead being encountered only in the extreme lower Bolshoy and Maly Irgiz Rivers.

It steeply returns east somewhat south at the Samara bend, passing around Obshchy Syrt, reaching the Urals at the latitude of Magnitogorsk.

[82] Ectoparasites known to infest polecats include flea species such as Ctenocephalides felis, Archaeospylla erinacei, Nosopsyllus fasciatus and Paraceras melis.

[86] According to Aubyn Trevor-Battye, the European polecat is difficult to tame, but is superior to its domesticated form, the ferret, in bolting rats from their holes due to its greater agility.

First generation hybrids between polecats and ferrets, conceived to improve the latter's bloodlines, produce animals with personalities similar to their wild parent's.

In some rural areas, the belief persists that the polecat chews off the ears of sleeping sheep and can paralyse or kill men by jumping on them from behind and biting their necks.

[83] In Wales, polecats were widely believed to migrate in large numbers every spring to the great peat bog of Tregaron to feed on the breeding frogs there.