• Question: why do polkats eat rabbits

    Asked by jonnyp97 to David, Rebecca, Simon, Verity, Wei on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Verity Nye

      Verity Nye answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      They are carnivores and need to eat meat. Rabbits are full of nutrients, they’re available and polecats can catch them. Polecats also eat rats, frogs and toads. They’ll eat anything from a hare to an earthworm! Ferrets are closely related to polecats and have been domesticated to hunt rabbits for man (sorry if you already know that bit!).

    • Photo: Wei Xun

      Wei Xun answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hi!

      Did you see springwatch last night? They showed a polecat hunting a rabbit, it was pretty amazing considering the size difference, polecat can do that so easily. It seems like polecats are natural predators for rabbits who have no defence against them.

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