Title:

Seasonal surplus killing as hunting strategy of the weasel Mustela nivalis - test of a hypothesis

Creator:

Jędrzejewska, B. ; Jędrzejewski, W.

Place of publishing:

Białowieża

Date issued/created:

1989

Description:

This paper questions the common explanation of surplus killing by small mustelids as an incidental response to superabundance of prey. Alternatively, we propose that surplus hunting in weasels is a regular seasonal (winter) strategy, a mean of: (1) balancing the cold-inducted increase of energy need, (2) compensating the concurrent restriction in hunting activity, (3) constantly supplying a "buffer" cache against unpredictable winter conditions. We tested this prediction in seminatural conditions in nineteen experiments performed over three years with 8 nonreproductive weasels Mustela nivalis Linnaeus, 1766 and very high densities of rodents, mainly the bank voles Clethrionomys glareolus (Schreber, 1780). Each experiment lasted from 6 to 25 days.

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Subject and Keywords:

daily consumption ; hunting strategy ; Mustela nivalis ; seasonal surplus killing ; sezonowe nadmierne zabijanie ; strategia polowań ; łasica ; zapasy pokarmu ; pokarm

Relation:

Acta Theriologica

Volume:

34

Issue:

25

Start page:

347

End page:

359

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article

Format:

application/pdf

Resource Identifier:

10.4098/AT.arch.89-34

Source:

click here to follow the link

Language:

eng ; sum. eng. ; pol.

Rights:

Rights Reserved - Free Access

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. May be used within the limits of statutory user freedoms

Digitizing institution:

Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Mammal Research Institute Polish Academy of Sciences

Projects co-financed by:

Programme Innovative Economy, 2010-2014, Priority Axis 2. R&D infrastructure ; European Union. European Regional Development Fund

Access:

Open