AnAge entry for Mustela putorius

Classification (HAGRID: 02199)

Taxonomy: Kingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Carnivora
                Family: Mustelidae
                    Genus: Mustela
Species: Mustela putorius
Common name: European polecat

Maximum longevity: 11.1 years (captivity)
Source: ref. 671
Sample size: Large
Data quality: Acceptable
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].

No information on metabolism is available.

[1136] Gomes et al. (2011), Comparative biology of mammalian telomeres: hypotheses on ancestral states and the roles of telomeres in longevity determination (PubMed)
[0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
[0001] Carey and Judge (2000), Longevity Records: Life Spans of Mammals, Birds, Amphibians, Reptiles, and Fish
[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