Talk:European polecat

European polecat has been listed as one of the Natural sciences good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
May 6, 2012	Good article nominee	Listed

Mammals: Mustelids Mid‑importance

	Mammals portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Mammals, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of mammal-related subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MammalsWikipedia:WikiProject MammalsTemplate:WikiProject Mammalsmammal articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by the Mustelids work group (assessed as Mid-importance).

Odor?[edit]

Can European polecats spray an odor, like skunks?

Given that domestic ferrets can, I'd be surprised if their European ancestors couldn't. Note, though, that ferrets cannot spray their musk very far, and unlike that of the skunk, the odour dissipates within a few minutes. Psychonaut 17:07, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I have 6 pet ferrets, and they don't stink at all!!

It's definitely noticable though, if you've been on the smelly end, and indoors.

Domestic ferrets often have their musk glands removed, so that could account for the lack of a smell.2600:1015:B111:BCFC:FDDE:CD6B:51BB:283C (talk) 22:39, 27 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, all mustelids can, though the effectiveness on a predator varies. Some don't use their musk in defense, only for communication.61.230.79.242 04:19, 24 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Their name in French is putois, which more or less means "the one who stinks". I cartoons, skunk is generally translated as putois. I think it is pretty self explenatory. --Arskoul 07:03, 30 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ancestry[edit]

I am going to take out the line referring to the Berber polecat (M.p. berberii) as being a debated ancestor of M.p. furo. While I acknowledge this information can be obscure, there is no reference provided and when I conducted a search through Google, Google Scholar, Ebsco, ScienceDirect and Web of Science I could find no reference to the Berber polecat being an identified species, let alone a debated ancestor of the ferret. The only place I could find reference to the Berber polecat was on web pages that were citing this wiki article. If someone has a reference proving the existence of the Berber polecat and it's relation to the ferret, that would be great and we can add the Berber back in. wagors 16:54, 15 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Photo[edit]

From the Danish description of this image, these are polecats at a zoo in Denmark (despite the English description "ferrets"). Here is a page from the zoo in question showing the polecat. --Cam 16:02, 12 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

They aren't skunks[edit]

I thought a polecat was a slang word for a skunk, I remember one episode of Garfield and Friends where they went to a dude ranch called Polecat Ranch or something and Garfield or John or somebody didn't know what a polecat was and than a skunk showed up and everybody freaked out.
- "Polecat" is sometimes used in America as a slang term for a skunk, but that's definitely not the same thing as this.72.104.210.70 (talk) 18:28, 27 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

New Wikiproject[edit]

I wanted to make a wikiproject about ferrets and weasels but it became to small a range so i have made a bigger wikiprojects including all animals in the Musteloidea super family which include both ferrets and weasels and much similar animals. Support would be appreceated.

This new wikiproject includes the European Polecat

you can find it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Proposals#Weasels

i also made a little template for the project,

This article is within the scope of the Weasel WikiProject, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of articles relating to Ferrets, Weasels, and other Weasel like friends. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.

I hope you like it.

This wikiproject is for the superfamily of Musteloidea which currently and surprisingly does not have an article yet. This superfamily includes ferrets and weasels and all of our other furry little weasel like friends. Please put your name on it so this article could have it's very own wikiproject outside of wikiproject animals.

Teh Ferret 19:56, 26 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Mask[edit]

I have photographed these animals, and I have yet to come across one wearing a mask. Perhaps these are only worn by the ones that are outlaws? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.25.80.55 (talk) 15:26, 4 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

GA Review[edit]

This review is transcluded from Talk:European polecat/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: LittleJerry (talk · contribs) 18:55, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Looks good overall, but there are problems I have:

is a species of mustelid native to western Eurasia and North Africa, which is classed by the IUCN as Least Concern due to its wide range and large numbers The IUCN status should be moved to the end of the lead. This wording doesn't sound right.
In size and proportions, the ferret is similar to the European polecat... I think something like "The ferret and European polecat are similar in both size and portions..."
The general appearance of the European polecat is typical of members of the genus Mustela, though it is generally more compact in conformation... I'd replace one of the "generals"
and, although short-legged, is not as elongated in body as the European mink or steppe polecat I would say that it "has a less elongated body then".
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 reduce depredations. I think "for protection" is more suitable for wikipedia.
Compared to other endangered British mammals, such as otters and badgers is it accurrate to stay otters and badgers are "endangered" in Britian?

LittleJerry (talk) 18:55, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

1. Well written?:

Prose quality:

Manual of Style compliance:

2. Factually accurate and verifiable?:

References to sources:

Citations to reliable sources, where required:

No original research:

3. Broad in coverage?:

Major aspects:

Focused:

4. Reflects a neutral point of view?:

Fair representation without bias:

5. Reasonably stable?

No edit wars, etc. (Vandalism does not count against GA):

6. Illustrated by images, when possible and appropriate?:

Images are copyright tagged, and non-free images have fair use rationales:

Images are provided where possible and appropriate, with suitable captions:

LittleJerry (talk) 14:59, 6 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Missing reference to anal scent glands[edit]

How is this supposed to be a good article, when the only reference to its famous scent is in the section about ferrets, where it's stated that ferrets hardly make use of the scent glands (which ones, when they aren't mentioned earlier in the article)?

And the section about polecats in culture should mention it too, as they have a prominent role in many European cultures because of the smell.-2A00:1028:83CC:42D2:847D:BB43:6CAB:9D9 (talk) 01:49, 4 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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External links modified[edit]

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Information about behaviour from the 'Behaviour and ecology' section should be merged with the 'Behaviour' section[edit]

In my opinion, the information regarding behaviour from the 'Behaviour and ecology' section should be merged with the 'Behaviour' section then I think a separate tab should be created for ecology as in my opinion it looks strange seeing 2 tabs relating to behaviour. Xboxsponge15 (talk) 20:36, 22 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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