Social behaviour of endangered European mink ( Mustela lutreola ) litters in captivity

Survey to identify factors affecting breeding of Wolverines Gulo gulo within the EEP

“…However, stereotypic behaviours easily develop among Wolverines, especially if they are kept in small enclosures with little possibility to exhibit their natural behaviours (Blomqvist, 2012). Abnormal and aggressive behaviours have been observed in other Mustelidae species, affecting social and mating behaviour; for example, male Black-footed ferrets (Wolf et al, 2000), American mink Neovison vison (Dallaire & Mason, 2017) and European mink Mustela lutreola (Kiik, 2018).…”

“…However, stereotypic behaviours easily develop among Wolverines, especially if they are kept in small enclosures with little possibility to exhibit their natural behaviours (Blomqvist, 2012). Abnormal and aggressive behaviours have been observed in other Mustelidae species, affecting social and mating behaviour; for example, male Black‐footed ferrets (Wolf et al , 2000), American mink Neovison vison (Dallaire & Mason, 2017) and European mink Mustela lutreola (Kiik, 2018). All types of stereotypic behaviours mentioned in the survey have been stated in other studies with Wolverines (Chaudhary et al , 2007), other mustelids such as the North American river otter Lontra canadensis (Morabito & Bashaw, 2012) and American mink (Díez‐León & Mason, 2016), and carnivores in general (Clubb & Vickery, 2006).…”

“…The Wolverine Gulo gulo, the largest terrestrial member of the Mustelidae family, is known as one of the rarest and least-known carnivores from the Northern Hemisphere (Landa et al, 2000;Dalerum et al, 2006;Aronsson, 2009). Wolverines are solitary animals occupying a variety of habitats with very harsh environmental conditions, ranging across boreal forests, and arctic and alpine tundra in North America and Eurasia (Aronsson, 2009;Copeland et al, 2010;Aronsson & Persson, 2018).…”

“…They also hunt livestock, especially domestic Sheep Ovis aries (Ekblom et al, 2018) and semi-domestic Reindeer (Mattisson et al, 2016), which is likely the main reason for a long history of persecution of the Wolverine by humans (Ekblom et al, 2018). Persecution and habitat loss have brought the Wolverine population in Scandinavia close to extinction (Landa et al, 2000;Aronsson & Persson, 2017).…”

“…Even though Wolverines have bred in captivity since 1915 (Blomqvist, 1995), they are still considered difficult to breed (Blomqvist, 2012). Wolverines have small litters (mean litter size in captivity = 2Á1; range 1-4 kits; n = 163) and generally reproduce every 2 years in the wild (Landa et al, 2000;Persson et al, 2006), which makes this a species with a low reproductive rate. This factor may make the task of achieving successful breeding, defined in this study as 'live cubs born', even more difficult for Wolverines in human care (Aronsson & Persson, 2018).…”