Animals underground. These amazing predators Where and how otters live

Mink (in Latin Lutreola), one of the most valuable fur-bearing animals in the world, in fact, does not dig any minks. AT wild nature she tends to settle near the water, in trunks fallen trees or hollows. The only exception is if the mink suddenly likes the hole of a water rat. In such cases, she ruthlessly kicks out the mistress from there, expropriates the hole and carries out its planning. The owner of precious fur is also a very good housewife who loves comfort. She widens the rat hole, lines the floor with leaves, dry grass, bird feathers, moss. He beats the bed with his teeth and paws, makes several exits from the house, and near one of them, the farthest, he arranges a “latrine”.

The mink is a very dexterous, beautiful and graceful animal with a narrow, long body, a pretty smart muzzle and unusually beautiful silky fur. The paws of the beast are equipped with swimming membranes, it hunts a lot in the water, swims and dives superbly, feeds on fish, crayfish, frogs, insects, rodents. However, it can catch a duck and even a goose.

Two types of minks live on the territory of Russia: European and American. The European one has long lived in Europe and in the Trans-Urals, and the American one was brought to us at the beginning of the twentieth century, exclusively for breeding on fur farms. American women, apparently, quite often managed to escape into the wild, where she adapted perfectly and began to actively breed. It must be assumed that these were mass shoots, since the European and American mink do not interbreed. Ironically, the European mink is much closer to the black polecat than to its American namesake. In those places where they live at the same time, minks mate with ferrets and even give offspring, a hybrid called "mink-tumak".

As a result of the expansion of American minks, so many have bred that they began to noticeably crowd out and even exterminate European ones. Until the fifties of the 20th century, its numbers increased enormously and in some forestry enterprises even threatened the natural balance. However, in the sixties, the mink fishery took on the scale of barbaric destruction. Now hunting for it is strictly regulated and limited. winter time, after the females have already brought out and raised the cubs.

The American mink is larger than the European mink, it is as tall as a sable, and its fur has a dark brown color. Blue and white mink are artificially bred breeds and do not occur in the wild.

Adults are not afraid of the cold, they do not fall into hibernation, swim and hunt in icy water, hide under the snow, but cubs up to two months of age cannot maintain a constant body temperature. At minus ten degrees and below, they experience a state similar to clinical death. However, the female can warm them up and bring them back to life even after several hours of such suspended animation.

The mating season for these animals begins in early spring, and by the end of spring, cubs already appear. One female brings up to seven babies. Most of the habits of the mink are similar to the way of life of other animals. representatives of the weasel family.

On our website you can also buy stuffed animals made in our workshop.

Good afternoon my dear nature lovers! Today I will tell you about interesting builder animals, how, using their building instincts, they build shelter dwellings for themselves. And I'll start my story with such a rare cute animal muskrat.

The muskrat does not have the ability to build above-water dwellings, but it builds underground houses very well. It's a whole maze underground passages, often ending in dead ends-otnorkami.

These dwellings have several nesting rooms. When the level of reservoirs changes, the muskrat digs a new house, which eventually becomes multi-storey. In addition to nesting holes, there are also feeding holes in which the animal deals with prey.

To all the entrances of the dwelling, located in the area of ​​shallow water, peculiar access routes were built in the form of trenches on the muddy bottom. They resemble the channels of river beavers.

In winter, when shallow water freezes over the trenches, an ice vault forms, tunnels appear. On them, the muskrat in complete safety gets to deep places.

In the spring, during the flood period, life puts before the animal difficult problems. The entire vast area of ​​the floodplain is flooded with water, and burrows are also flooded.

However, the animals have adapted to this and are waiting high water, escaping in the hollows of trees and influxes.

Influxes are all kinds of rubbish and rubbish that are applied by the current to any obstacles in the floodplain, most often in thickets of trees and shrubs. In the thickness of the influx, the muskrat makes lairs and calmly uses them. Often, her upper neighbors are hares, different ones, and even foxes.

Temporary dwellings of water rats

It is difficult in the spring and the water rat. Not only in the floodplains, but also in other places, after the snow melts, the winter quarters of these rodents are flooded with water. Like the desman, the animals use all sorts of temporary dwellings in the spring. On bushes, branches and in the hollows of flooded trees, they gather in large groups.

After the recession of the hollow waters, the animals begin to move to a variety of summer apartments. In swampy forest areas, water rats often settle in old stumps. The exit from such dwellings goes under water. The round nest is lined with soft and dry grass from the inside.

In the shallow bays formed at the site of clearings, very original underground houses of water rats were found. The animals have chosen numerous stumps, gnawed their way through them, made nests. A whole rat town was formed in the stumps. Above, on the stumps, these rodents arranged fodder tables and turned out to be a real table and a house.

In open sedge–tussock swamps, rats build nests in the upper part of large hummocks, and in reed beds - in thick layers of dead plants and even in muskrat huts, but not inside, but in their thick and loose walls. On the banks of small rivers, streams, ponds and oxbow lakes, the animals dig holes several meters long, often with two exits - underwater and surface: the enemy will not be taken by surprise - you can escape either into the water or onto land.

It happens that almost the entire life of a water rat passes away from water bodies, in meadows in holes. After all, she does not need water as much as the succulent grassy vegetation of wet places. However, by the will of nature or man, the water rat sometimes finds itself in amusing positions.

On the Rybinsk Reservoir, entire rat villages on floating peat bogs traveled with their inhabitants through the expanses of water.

In winter, the rat does not need water. She does not reach the rhizomes of cattail or reeds from the bottom and does not swim under the ice hundreds of meters from the coast, like a muskrat or a beaver. Therefore, many animals go out into the fields in the fall, where they begin preparations for winter. First of all, they break through countless passages, and soon vast areas of farmland turn into rats.

During the years of the rat misfortune, one cannot even take a step on them so as not to fall into the underground houses of rodents. Everywhere you look, black heaps of discarded earth. They can be counted up to 4000 pieces per 1 hectare. There are no exits in sight. The absence of an external passage is a trick, a way of protecting against terrestrial, small predators - ermine and weasel: after all, they can easily climb along the passages of a rat.

Water rats come out original way. It is this pile of earth that serves as the door of their dwelling. The animal pushes its head through a loose earthen lump and hurries to store food for the winter.

• onions and potatoes
• water horseradish bulbs,
• roots of other plants.

Rats stuff their underground pantries with seeds of cereals, primarily rye and wheat. Seeds germinate in warm passages in winter and give the owners fresh, juicy and fortified food.

With the onset of winter, when loose deep snow covers the ground, water rats arrange a large network of ground snow passages and even ground nests. They are placed in willow bushes, in weeds and represent a grass ball with a diameter of 20-30 centimeters.

Foxes hunt for animals scurrying in countless snowy passages, trying to grab them, but it was not there. Prey often hides from under the nose of a predator in underground houses and becomes inaccessible: it is reliably guarded by the armor of a frozen layer of earth.

Living conditions for construction animals

Last on the list of builders' rodents is the nutria. The conditions of life at home, in the jungles of South America, did not require complex building instincts from her. Therefore, her temporary dwellings are simple and monotonous.

In all reservoirs with dense, rich aquatic vegetation, the animal arranges something similar to a duck's nest, only large sizes. On a hall of reed stalks or cattail, the nutria drags long bunches of plants. At the top is a recess for the nest. The height of such a flooring is about 30-40 centimeters.

Nutria makes several similar nests. Stray males and immature individuals often do not bother building at all, but rest anywhere. Their beds are usually found along the banks of the reservoir.

Such carelessness is sometimes punished by predators, especially wolves, jackals or reed cats. It's a big surprise for them - to catch a nutria on the ground by surprise - this is for them! Meat of a nutria differs in special tenderness and pleasant taste.

In reservoirs, where vegetation is poor and there is nowhere to build a nest, nutria dig holes. Their underground houses are very simple passage 2-3 meters long, going straight from the water. The entrance to the hole is only half under water, so even the elementary rule - to disguise the door with nutria is often not respected.

Nutrias almost never build temporary dwellings themselves, but try to use natural shelters. Almost all nests of animals are located in the hollows of fallen trees. Sometimes minks settle in the cavities of bumps, apparently having eaten the owner of this housing - water rat and expanding her room.

Reluctantly, the animals dig holes on their own. The nesting chamber usually has one or two entrances and exits; near one of the thresholds of housing, there is a restroom not far away. Mink cleanliness is innate. In the Norch, it manifests itself already in the third month of life.

The interior decoration of a mink house is not tricky. Animals gnaw and scrape out the core of the hollow, creating a nesting chamber. The floor is lined with dry leaves or grass, needles or moss. Mink depending on the weather

• then leaves the entrance open and basks in the draft,
• then plugs it with a bunch of grass during the cold.

The animal regularly skillfully fluffs its feather bed with both teeth and paws, and then, curling up in a ball, goes to sleep in a warm and soft bed. In summer, on hot days, the litter is temporarily thrown out to dry, and the animals enjoy the cold floor of the dwelling, lying on it, either on their backs or on their stomachs.

In addition to permanent nesting burrows, the animals have many temporary stopping points where they rest while exploring their hunting area. But still, European and American minks are firmly attached to a certain area.

Another thing is the otter. She does not live in one place for a long time and wanders around her hunting area in search of fish. The range of its migrations is huge and sometimes amounts to several hundred kilometers. However, during the period of birth and rearing of young animals, the female is forced to live in one place, which is provided with food on the site.

The otter digs nesting underground houses with difficulty - after all, the claws of its paws are weak. Usually, it somewhat expands and deepens the undercuts in the river banks. The passage to her hole goes under water and ends in a spacious chamber covered with dry grass, leaves, and moss.

For ventilation, 1-2 pulls lead up. They also serve as emergency exits in case of floods. In some warm regions of our country, the otter settles without a hole, in dense thickets, and here it gives birth to cubs.

All temporary underground shelters of otters are found near water bodies. In winter, the animals perfectly use the voids under the ice near the coast, and then not only their temporary dwellings, but even traces will not be seen. In the habits of otters, one can already discern some features of those semi-aquatic animals for which the construction of a permanent roof over their heads becomes optional.

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Akimushkin Igor Ivanovich (1929-1993)

Born in Moscow in the family of an engineer. Graduated from the biology and soil faculty of Moscow State University (1952). Published since 1956.

His first books for children appeared in 1961: "Traces of Strange Beasts" and "Trail of Legends: Tales of Unicorns and Basilisks".

For kids, Igor Ivanovich wrote a number of books, using techniques that are typical for fairy tales and travel. These are: “Once upon a time there was a squirrel”, “Once upon a time there was a beaver”, “Once upon a time there was a hedgehog”, “Animals-builders”, “Who flies without wings?”, “ different animals”,“ How does a rabbit not look like a hare ”, etc.

For teenagers, Akimushkin wrote books of a more complex genre - encyclopedic: "Animals of the River and Sea", "Entertaining Biology", "The Disappeared World", "The Tragedy of Wild Animals", etc.

Akimushkin focuses on topical issues of development, conservation and study of the animal world, the study of the behavior and psyche of animals. He wrote not only books for children and youth; but also scripts for popular science films. A number of Akimushkin's works have been translated into foreign languages. His most famous work is the book "The World of Animals".

"Animal World" is the most famous work Igor Ivanovich Akimushkin, which went through several editions. They summarize a huge scientific material, use a more modern scheme for the classification of the animal world, a lot of various facts about the life of animals, birds, fish, insects and reptiles, beautiful illustrations, photographs, funny stories and legends, incidents from the life and notes of an observer-naturalist. Six volumes of "The World of Animals" by Igor Ivanovich Akimushkin were published one after another for a decade - from 1971 to 1981. They were printed by the Young Guard publishing house in the popular Eureka series. For ten years, readers managed to grow up and fall in love with these books for life. The first and second told about mammals, the third - about birds, the fourth - about fish, amphibians and reptiles, the fifth - about insects, the sixth - about domestic animals.

The first book, The World of Animals, tells about seven orders of mammals: cloacae, marsupials, insectivores, winged wings, carnivores, artiodactyls and artiodactyls.

Why was Australia inhabited only by marsupials and egg-laying animals before the arrival of man? Who is stronger: a lion, a tiger or a bear? Secrets behind the needles - about the incomprehensible habits of hedgehogs. Igor Akimushkin invites readers to make an exciting journey with him to the animal kingdom. In this book, the author talks about the world of mammals. The theme of human responsibility for the fate of the animals of our planet runs like a red thread through the entire book.

Book:

We have two polecats: black (or forest) and light (or steppe). In the first, the tail is all black, and the belly is brownish with black spots on the chest and in the groin, connected by a narrow dark stripe. The undercoat on the sides and back is whitish, grayish or yellow and covered with black-brown guard hairs at the ends.

The light undercoat shines through the dark pile, especially if you blow on it, because the ferret fur, very beautifully shimmering in different tones, plays, as it were, “opalescent”, with yellowness.

In the steppe polecat, only half of the tail (terminal) is black, the other (root) is light, yellowish. And the back is light (not black-brown, like that of the forest), since the rare brown awn does not cover the light fluff well. There is also no median dark stripe on the belly, connecting the dark spots on the chest and in the groin.

The range of the forest polecat is almost all of Europe, except for Ireland, Scotland, the Balkans and Scandinavia. To the east - to the Urals, to the south - to the Lower Volga, the Right Bank of the Don and the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. In places it has been preserved in North Africa and somewhere in Asia Minor. Acclimatized in New Zealand and Australia. The range of the light polecat is South-Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Crimea, foothills of the Caucasus. Northern border in Europe - Oka, Tatar ASSR, Gorky and Perm region. Beyond the Urals - all of Southern Siberia (east to the Bureya River), Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Northern China and Mongolia.

The dark polecat prefers edges, clearings, ravines, littered and overgrown with bushes, although it is a forest beast. Light polecat settles more in the steppes, meadows, semi-deserts. Otherwise, they are similar in their way of life. Both, destroying a lot of harmful rodents, are of great benefit. However, there is also harm from the polecat: when he climbs into the chicken coop and strangles a lot of birds, more than he can eat. Here they tell such a funny, but, unfortunately, not reliable story: a ferret, before boarding a perch, allegedly intoxicates chickens with a gas attack (it has glands under its tail that smell very sharp and unpleasant). So, having climbed into the chicken coop, the ferret “stinks” so much that the chickens fall from the perch from nausea, and he strangles them without fuss. The steppe polecat, in Siberian - kurna, also poisons the marmots, as if with a "stinky stench", climbing into their hole.

Rutting in trochees in early spring, pregnancy - 40 days. Cubs - from two to twelve (in the steppe - even up to eighteen!).

From the African polecat, people (two thousand years ago!) bred a domestic ferret, or fret.

He is white with red eyes - an albino.

(However, there are also dirty-white and black-brown ones, almost like wild ferrets.) They hunt rabbits with him: they let him into holes, wearing a muzzle and a bell around his neck. The muzzle is then so that the ferret does not bite and eat the rabbit in the hole, but only drives it into the net stretched at the exit. And the bell - to know where under the ground, in which direction the polecat makes its way. In Germany, hunting with "frettchen" is quite popular.

Mink is from the same genus as ferrets and stoats.

Now in our country there are two types of mink - European and American. This one is larger, and only the lower lip is white, while the upper lip of the European one is also white. The fur of the American mink is more valuable, we have successfully acclimatized it in many places: in the Bashkir, Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, Altai, Eastern Siberia and Far East, releasing more than 12,000 imported minks into the wild.

European mink - Europe, Western Siberia east to the Irtysh, Caucasus (in places). American, or mink - Canada and the USA. There is a local mink in Java.

Minks have webbed paws. They resemble otter minks in their way of life and a bit in appearance: they settle near the water, swim and dive perfectly. They catch fish, frogs, crayfish, molluscs, insects, rodents, ducks, sometimes even geese, American minks - sometimes hares. They eat berries. Where American and European minks meet, there are crossbreeds between them (just as with polecats). But their relationship, in general, is not peaceful: American ones are crowding out and even exterminating European minks.

Contrary to their name, they are reluctant to dig holes: most often their nests are in hollows above the roots of old willows, in fallen trees, sometimes in a tussock, from under which a water rat is expelled (and its hole is expanded).

“One or two exits-entrances usually lead from the nesting chamber. Near one of them, already beyond the threshold of housing, there is a restroom. The habit of cleanliness in a mink is inborn ... The floor is lined with dry grass, leaves, moss, needles ... The animal often shakes its bed ... He does it masterfully, with paws and teeth at the same time, then lies down and curls up in a ball ”(V. V. Dezhkin and S. V . Marakov).

Rutting in minks in early spring, pregnancy - about forty days (in the American - 36-37 days, since it has a small latent period). There are two cubs - seven (in the American - up to twelve).

The American mink is well acclimatized in Iceland and Scandinavia. The Swedish Hunting Association even received a subsidy of 25,000 crowns from the government to exterminate the mink where it has become harmful to domestic and wild bird. During the 1959/60 hunting season alone, 18,000 American minks were caught here. They also tried to acclimatize the mink in Chile, but it seems to be unsuccessful.

Geneticists have bred the most mink on fur farms different colors: sapphire, pearl, topaz, silver, white, steel and others - more than two dozen color forms. The price of the skin of a new fashionable color at world auctions is sometimes $400. The skin of a sea otter, which is very wearable and much larger than that of a mink, costs about the same amount.

The South American giant otter is similar to our usual otter, but larger than it: up to two and a quarter meters long, and weighs up to 34 kilograms. In addition, the tail of a giant otter is strongly compressed from top to bottom, like a beaver, and the glands under the tail are capable of throwing out a stream of foul-smelling liquid in the manner of a skunk. The piercing cries of giant otters can often be heard near Brazilian rivers, but the animals themselves are very secretive, it is not easy to see and catch them.

Bandaging is a special animal. In habits, it resembles both the steppe polecat and the American skunk. The way of life is generally ferret, and the manner of defense is skunk - a fluffy tail rearing over its back as a sign of the first warning. If it is not taken into account, splashes of a foul-smelling liquid fly from under the tail. Warning and angry, the bandage does not chirp, like ferrets and many small mustelids, but growls. And the color of the dressing is motley, sort of like a skunk or an African zorilla. The general background is generally yellowish, and on it are thrown (very freely and individually, like a hyena dog) irregular outlines of red and brown spots. The belly and legs are black-brown, and the ears are white.

Steppes, semi-deserts of South-Eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Western China, our Black Sea region (to the west to the Dnieper), Crimea, the Caucasus, the Lower Volga region, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Altai - area of ​​dressing. Prey - rodents, lizards, birds. Morning and evening dawns are the favorite hours of hunting. Burrows, sometimes hollows - a haven for rest and sleep.

Rutting, apparently, in August - September. Five months pregnant. There are up to fourteen sucklings born in March in a brood.

The animal is rare. The advance of people to virgin lands, and the steppe trochee to new territories, does not at all contribute to the prosperity of dressings. Looks like they are dying out.

Now let's talk about the most big animals marten family. And the first among them is a sea otter, or sea ​​otter: old males weigh forty kilograms. The second place belongs to the wolverine: the weight of mothers is 32 kilograms (but old females - only 16).

“This is kudoy, ​​very kudoy, ​​the very last animal” - such, says A. A. Cherkasov, has long been a characteristic of the wolverine in Siberia. "Thin" - she eats carrion, does not disdain snakes. “She, damned, fogs her eyes, so that the dogs see badly after that and lose her eyes,” is disgusting with her stench, which she “emits” when the dogs surround the wolverine. She steals every crushed animal and bird from traps (however, she manages not to fall into a trap herself!). “The very last beast” - hunting grub, food supplies left in the forest, also steals. And that which is not eaten and carried away, is poured with its nasty and smelly liquid.

Of course, this bad wolverine manner does not stem from a malicious desire to harm people, it is simply natural for wolverines and many other animals to mark with their smell everything that belongs to them: prey and the boundaries of the land. In wolverines, they are large - about 150 thousand hectares. Gluttonous wolverine and bold. The lynx, they say, takes away prey without fear. A fox will come across to her or an otter, a wolverine may seize them. Roe deer, musk deer, sometimes beavers, young or sick moose, red deer hide, attack and crush.

He drags large prey "in heels, not having the strength to carry it in his teeth." Drags to a more secluded place, eats along the way, drags again. Then it does not go far: it cannot eat right away, it feeds for several days. Sometimes other wolverines gather for big prey and feast together.

The appearance of the beast is rather strange: it is somehow clumsy in a special way, in its own way. The back is arched, the paws are semi-stopigrade, clubfoot on the go - “weaves legs”. A bit like small bear. Brown, the same shaggy, but the tail is quite long, fluffy. And the body from the sides is as if compressed.

Many strange things are said about wolverines. In some places, their bad reputation is tinted with mystical fear: evil ghosts seem to live in these animals.

They also say that on a steep slope the dogs will catch up with the wolverine, so it will curl up in a lump and roll downhill, like a ball, "not hoping for the speed of its run." It will roll down on a flat place or on sharp stones - it does not care: the skin is strong and itself is folded tightly. He jumps up and runs on his own. In the same way - in a lump and hiding her head between her front legs - she seems to fall from a steep slope onto musk deer and wild goats and "often," the industrialists told A. A. Cherkassov, "either kills these animals with their weight, or pushes them off the cliffs." It hardly looks like the truth. However, what does not happen in the world ... When hungry, with big hunt she was unlucky, wolverine catches frogs near rivers and lakes, young ducks, fish. “It must be good and beautiful she comes out of the swamp, soaked and smeared in the swamp mud! ...”

However, the wool of the wolverine gets wet badly from the water. For this reason, the Eskimos sheathe their clothes with her fur along the edges of the sleeves and collars, so that the malitsa that has absorbed moisture does not stiffen in the cold.

Rutting with wolverines either from the end of July, or around September. It is not yet known with certainty. Pregnancy about nine months. Young in a litter (in February - April) from one to four. The area is the north of Scandinavia, our European north and Siberia (south to Leningrad, Vologda regions and Sverdlovsk, but sometimes wolverines run into Belarus, near Voronezh, in the forest-steppe of Kazakhstan), Mongolia, Canada, Alaska, in the USA - the mountains of California.

But here is one whose skin, one might say, simply repels water, not accepting it at all - the otter. This is understandable: the otter is a water animal. Fish Storm!

The otter, on occasion, catches wild ducklings, hares and marsh turtles. Does not disdain water rats, crayfish and frogs. But most of all he loves fish. Any. And roach, and perch, and bream. Even such fast ones as graylings and taimen. In Ukraine, there are more than twenty species of different fish in the diet of otters.

But the otter is not an enemy to the fisherman, but a friend. AT recent times biologists have established such a paradoxical relationship: as soon as otters are exterminated from some reservoirs, there will first be more fish in them. But then noticeably less. How again the otters will breed in those rivers or lakes - again there are more fish in them! Otters catch a lot of sick fish. "Disinfect" thereby fish flocks.

Tracking prey, the otter lurks on the shore and watches. And then he will lower his muzzle into the water in order to see better. He will notice a flock of fish, carefully, silently slip into the river. There, under water, it rushes forward, and the fish is in its teeth!

If a big fish catches, drags her to the shore. There he eats. And it deals with small ones right in the water.

An otter plays with fish and cat and mouse! When you're full and want to have some fun. He will release the fish and wait - let him sail away. And then chase after her. Catch and release again. The otter generally loves to play. And of all the games, her favorite is skiing from the mountain. In winter - with ice, in summer the best place for such a game - a clay cliff.

Families of otters are friendly: until late autumn and even winter, grown-up otters live with their parents or nearby.

The male helps the female raise and protect the children.

In summer, otters, apparently, live sedentary: they do not go far from the hole (the entrance to it is always under water). In winter, they roam: tens, or even hundreds of kilometers, pass through the snow, get stuck in them, since the legs of otters are short. On the ice of a river or lake, sometimes, having run up, they slide on their belly, as if on a sledge. (Emperor penguins travel in this way, pushing themselves with flippers.) If there is no hole, the otter, they say, “blows” the ice: it breathes on it, tears it with its teeth and punches a hole for itself - a way to the water. Of course, this is possible (if at all possible) when the ice is not thick.

Otters' rut different time but usually in February-April. It is not clear how long the females are “fraught”: some researchers prove that 270-300 days, others - no more than two and a half months. Young (from two to five in a litter) will be born in April, and in May, and in June - August, and even in December and February!

River otters live in Europe and Asia forest rivers“with whirlpools and rifts, with polynyas that do not freeze for the winter, with steep washed-out banks. Outside the forest zone, they settle along the banks of rivers and lakes with thickets of reeds ”(Professor G. A. Novikov).

Otters of the same species as ours live in North Africa and, as some researchers believe, also in Java, Sumatra and Japan. If close species are also taken into account, then we can say that otters are to a certain extent cosmopolitan. They live in the North (Canadian otter) and in South America(seven species, including the giant otter), throughout Africa (four species) and in South Asia - in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, the Philippines (apparently, three species). In total on Earth - 17 species river otters and one kind of marine.

Some otters sometimes swim from rivers to the sea to fish there. But this sea voyage of theirs is, so to speak, a temporary and irregular phenomenon. However, there is an otter that constantly lives in the sea and on sea ​​shores, is a sea otter. (Commander and Kurile Islands, Southern Kamchatka. On the other side Pacific Ocean- Aleutian Islands, southwestern coast of Alaska, sea otters are found in places on west coast United States, south to California.)

Before there were many sea otters, now there are apparently only a few thousand of them on our islands (and in America there are about 10 thousand). Hunting for them is prohibited. Sea otter fur is very expensive.

The common badger lives in Europe and Asia (south to Northern Burma and China). In places where badgers are not disturbed, they settle in whole colonies, and their burrows branch underground over a space sometimes of 25 hectares. The burrows are perfectly clean. Litter - dry leaves, moss, grass - badgers often take out of the hole in the morning to air and dry. They also have latrines, places for games and sunbathing.

Sea otters are peace-loving and good-natured animals, “You just relax in their company,” says S. V. Marakov, who devoted a lot of time and energy to studying sea otters on the Commander Islands. Males and females keep separate, away from each other. But both of them are friendly companies. On a summer day, sea otters usually swim a few kilometers from the coast into the sea. At dusk they return to the shore. Here is a surf strip, bays with underwater and surface rocks and stones, thickets of kelp - their promised places. Sea otters lie on their backs in the water for a long time. On some kalanikhs, the cubs sleep comfortably curled up on their chests. Mothers are very gentle and caring. But, alas, they have few children: only one child a year. Twins are very rare. Kalanihi give birth on the shore or on the rocks in the sea (some American zoologists say that sometimes in the water).

About a two-week-old suckling mother is already teaching to swim: she puts it on her chest and, holding it with one paw, swims on her back in the sea. With him, it happens, and dives for prey to the bottom. And the prey is sea urchins, stars, fish, squid, shellfish, crabs.

Sea otters, diving, collect echinoderms, put them in the folds of the skin under the arm and press them tightly with their paws so as not to lose them. (The skin of the sea otters is loosely attached to the body, so it is presumably not difficult for them to perform such an operation.) It happens that they will also take a stone with them at the bottom and swim up.

The sea otter does not like to dine on the shore. The waves shake him, and he lies on his back. On his chest, it seems like a dining table: having approved a stone (or without a stone) on it, he takes it out from under his arm sea ​​urchins or molluscs and, breaking them on a stone (or breaking them with paws), eats slowly.

Eating - and yawning (sea otters, says S. V. Marakov, love to yawn, and yawn a lot, with obvious pleasure). Yawns, yawns, and then falls asleep. Right there on the water, lying on your back. He will fold his paws on his chest, bury his muzzle in them and sway on the waves, as in a hammock. When the cubs grow up, so from six months, the mothers give them to the care of their fathers. Those by their example teach them hunting and preventive defense against killer whales, predatory toothed whales. For many marine animals, from the squid to the baleen whale, the killer whale is a formidable enemy. And among sea otters, where people do not hunt them, this enemy seems to be the only one.

Another animal, well known to everyone, is included in the same zoological tribe with otters and martens - the badger.

We have two types of badgers. common badger and honey badger. The first has an area - almost all of our country (except for the north-eastern regions of Siberia), all of Europe, and in Asia - from Turkey to China and Japan. The second one lives only in Turkmenistan, near the border, and beyond its borders - in Africa, Asia Minor and India.

An ordinary badger is not only a forest animal: it settles both in the steppe and in the desert. Only the tundra is not to his liking. It digs burrows in the forest most of all along ravines (but not necessarily), and in deserts - in smooth salt marshes, in sandy mounds. badger hole- This is a grandiose building for the beast. It has many otnorks, entrances and exits, others tens of meters from one another. In the hole - complete cleanliness.

Badgers are unsociable: they do not tolerate close proximity even to their fellow badgers - other badgers.

During the day they sleep in burrows, at night they feed on insects, their larvae, frogs, lizards, snakes, hares, birds, bird eggs - everyone they can overcome.

A lot of bumblebee nests are ruined by a badger. Enraged bumblebees bite him, and when he is already unbearable, he rolls on the ground, crushing them. Then he hurries back to the nest to eat both the honey and the baby.

A. A. Cherkasov says that Siberian badgers attack calves and foals, and even supposedly cows, tearing out the udder with their claws and teeth. We have not heard of such cases.

Very impressively, he also tells how, fleeing from the dogs along the mountainside, the badger rolls down, curled up in a ball.

“He, poor thing, rolled with a fright from a steep and high mountain, flies on stones, hits them with a swing so hard that some special sound is heard - boot-boot-boot - bounces off them like a ball, then flies again, hits again, a boot-but is heard more muffled, touched with in some places, stones also fly and bounce after him ... Finally, the dogs catching up with the badger quickly rush along the same track, stumble, somersault - noise, screeching, yelping complete the picturesque picture, which in moonlight has a special effect.

In general, fun! But whether it happens or happened - I do not say.

Badger almost everything sundial spends in the dungeon, and for health it is known to be harmful. Therefore, interrupting his daytime sleep, he goes out to bask in the sun. Lies, sits in a hole in the sun or wanders around. When the badgers are born, their mother also endures to “sunbathe”. It must be assumed that there was no rickets.

By winter, badgers become very fat, doubling their weight: old males - up to almost 32 kilograms.

And where the winters are cold, these animals sleep in burrows from about October to April.

The badger is a very useful animal for forestry, it exterminates a lot of larvae of beetles and cockchafers. Where the badgers were all killed, trees are dying from pest beetles. From the badger itself, the harm is small: the ruin of bumblebee nests, in some places spoils oats, melons, vineyards. This is his undisputed liability. But badgers have more useful things to their credit.

Badgers, foxes and many other animals dig holes in which they hide from bad weather and escape from enemies. These mammals are perfectly adapted to this lifestyle.

photo: Mike Seamons

What animals live underground?

Most animals that live underground settle in ready-made burrows left by previous residents. However, most mammals themselves are engaged in arranging their own housing. They conscientiously take care of the order and regularly clean their burrow, changing the bedding.

Moles (genus Taira) lead a solitary life in a labyrinth of underground corridors that can cover an area of ​​up to 1200 m2. Visible from the outside, molehills contain ventilation shafts or a large chamber that is designed for sleeping.

Badgers live in families. An ordinary burrow reaches thirty meters in diameter and has several exits. The badger settles more readily in quiet areas of the forest with soft soil, but it can also be found in the steppe or in semi-desert regions. On the trees not far from its burrow, traces of the badger's claws are visible - in this way the animal cleans or sharpens its claws.

photo:Andy Purviance

wild rabbits dig holes with strong forepaws. They are able to build large galleries with numerous rooms in which a large colony of these animals can live.

marsupial mole, which lives in the northeast and south of Australia, moves underground in a special way - it seems as if the animal is swimming. The mole loosens the ground in front of it, quickly working with strong, pointed claws of the third and fourth fingers of the forelimbs. Then mole pushes it away with his head and rakes the soil under him, making quick movements with his whole body, the mole deftly slips into the dug hole.

photo: Mick Talbot

Interesting facts about animals living in holes

• Sometimes in a part of the Badger hole they settle foxes. The badger cannot stand their smell, so it is often forced to leave its hole.
• The marsupial mole digs temporary short feeding passages. After the animal passes over them, the earth crumbles. In these temporary tunnels, the marsupial mole searches underground, which make up the main part of its menu. Sometimes a marsupial mole gets out to the surface and continues to dig a tunnel in a new place. The muzzle of the marsupial mole is protected by a keratinized shield.
• For many mammals, living underground provides tangible benefits. In cold weather, they hide from the cold in underground galleries, and when it's hot outside, they hide from the heat. In addition, the animals are protected from enemies and can safely raise their young.

photo: Doug Zwick

Many representatives of the marten family dig underground storages (for example, a badger), or occupy other people's abandoned burrows, as they do ferrets and stoats. Rodents also live underground. gray rats, voles and shrews; insectivores - moles.

Moles they spend most of their lives underground. They come to the surface in order to collect construction material for a nest or if frosts come - then the animals go outside to search for food. Moles are preyed upon by many different predators, including red foxes.

photo: Darryl Dawson

Badger practically omnivorous. He leads night image life. The badger loves to eat earthworms. Other underground animals, such as African meerkats, come out to hunt during the day. They feed mainly on insects.

Animals living in countries with temperate climate hiding in burrows from the cold. And the desert dwellers hide underground from the exhausting midday heat.

photo: tim phillips

Animal life underground

The body shape of mammals that lead an underground lifestyle is ideal for moving around underground tunnels. So, the mole has a pointed mouth and spade-shaped forelimbs with long claws, with which it is convenient for him to dig the ground. The body of the mole tapers slightly towards the tail. Thanks to this shape, it moves forward like a rotor, and at the same time pushes a part of the excavated earth to the walls of the tunnel. The mole moves the remnants of the soil to the hind legs and rejects them back with them. The vision of the mole is practically undeveloped, but such an important, it would seem, flaw does not prevent him from leading an active lifestyle.

All eight types of badgers have a strong body with short legs, which is covered with thick short hair. Their claws are very strong, not retractable, perfectly adapted for digging. In Australia, the corresponding badger is . The pouch, which is located on the belly of the female wombat, does not open forward like most chipmunks. He is preparing a special storage for himself for the winter. Chipmunks close the entrance to the hole very tightly so that the cold does not get inside, sometimes they suffocate from lack of oxygen.

But usually they instinctively wake up at the moment when the "bedroom" runs out of oxygen. Well-insulated corridors in the chipmunk hole are 7 m long, one of them passes into the nesting chamber, as the animals mate immediately after waking up from hibernation.

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When there is no polynya, the otter “blows through” the ice: it breathes on it, tears with its teeth and punches a hole for itself if the ice is not too thick. Imperceptibly on the back swims under the motionless pike and grabs the belly near the head. He will pull the big fish onto the ice, eat out the middle, and leave the rest. Foxes and ermines willingly pick up these leftovers.

In winter, fishermen follow the trail of the otter to find schools of fish in deep waters.

Sometimes it happens that the predator falls into the nets stretched under the ice and suffocates. And it also happens like this: a lover of ice fishing instead of big fish sees in the water ... a mustachioed muzzle. A captive otter screams piercingly, tears the line with a sharp jerk and most often leaves.

The most dangerous enemy of the otter is the lynx, which watches over it near water bodies.

Front (top) and hind (bottom) paw prints otters.

Contrary to the name, these animals dig burrows reluctantly, and more often arrange nests in low hollows or trunks of fallen trees. Sometimes the animal drives out a water rat from under a bump, and expands the hole, putting things in order: the mink is a born clean. The floor is lined with dry grass, leaves, moss, bird feathers. He shakes his bed with his paws and teeth. And at one of the exits, outside, he arranges a "lavatory".

Once upon a time European mink lived throughout Europe, but now preserved mainly in Russia.

Minks do not climb trees well. Like otters, they settle near the water, swim and dive excellently, and their paws are also webbed. They feed on small fish, frogs, crayfish, insects, rodents. Sometimes they catch ducks, even geese, and "American" - hares. Where the European mink meets the black polecat, there are crossbreeds between them - these animals are called the cuff mink. But the European and American minks do not interbreed. The "Americans", larger, stronger and more prolific, are gradually crowding out, and in some places even exterminating the "Europeans".

In the wild, the mink is extremely secretive and cautious, and if you see it near the river, consider yourself lucky.

On fur farms where they breed American mink, about 20 varieties have already been bred with magnificent fur of platinum, black, white, blue, sapphire color.

Quite strange, even ridiculous: stocky, with a body flattened on the sides, shaggy like a bear, but with a long and fluffy tail; the brown back is arched, clubfoot on the move, “twisting” the legs. In the marten family, it is the first largest among forest 1 relatives (body length up to 1 m, weight up to 32 kg).

Wolverine is a typical terrestrial predator: strong, very brave, voracious. It hunts fox, otter, roe deer, musk deer, beaver, young elk and deer.

A large carcass is dragged by dragging. He refreshes himself on the go, rests, then drags again. She feeds on her for several days, unless her relatives come running to the bloody feast. In a hungry winter, he is not afraid even to take prey from a lynx.

In spring, in a deep hole or hollow of a tree, 2–4 cubs are born to the female.

In Siberia, the wolverine has a nasty reputation: according to local residents- "a very thin beast." It feeds on carrion and snakes, steals animals and birds from traps and traps, steals food supplies from hunting huts. And what he doesn’t eat and doesn’t take away, he will pour with his fetid liquid ...

« She, damned, blurs her eyes, so that the dogs see badly after that and lose her from their eyes.", - noted the naturalist Cherkasov. According to local legends, evil spirits live in wolverines...

In the taiga, winters are severe and the snows are deep. And in order not to disappear from hunger in the cold season, the wolverine acquired wide and short paws. So he runs on them, like on hunting skis, without getting bogged down in snowdrifts.

And move hardy predator accounts for a lot, because its hunting territory cannot be called modest - about 150,000 hectares.

Wolverine leads a wandering lifestyle and keeps to himself within his area, leaving smelly marks on everything that belongs to her - on prey and on the border of the land. Wet snow and even water are not a hindrance to the wolverine, because her coat practically does not absorb water. No wonder northern peoples sheathed with wolverine fur - thick, long, rough, black-brown in color - the edges of the sleeves and collars of clothes, so as not to stiffen in the cold from moisture.

It seems that the wolverine is the enemy of forest animals and humans, the beast is certainly harmful. But is it?

Not at all. Basically, the wolverine feeds on carrion - the semi-decomposed remains of the prey of bears and wolves, the corpses of animals that died from diseases. By eating them, predators prevent the spread of infection. It turns out that wolverines are hardworking taiga scavengers and orderlies!