SABLES AND THEIR ILK

Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 3:23 am

Again, why do people have such a problem with little carnivores being carnivores? You’ll see the poor little sable being referred to as a “killer” – and yet, there is no explanation on how the creature will survive if it doesn’t kill to eat!
* sigh *

Anyway, it’s an interesting article about various mustelids in Japan so well worth reading

Wednesday, April 18, 2007
WILD WATCH
SABLES AND THEIR ILK
Cuteness belies killers’ true nature
By MARK BRAZIL

Movement in the snow; the surface bulges, bursts, and out pops a creamy-faced creature with round black eyes like tiny beads and a stare that seems to say “I can kill.”

Powder snow dusts its head as it looks around. Then it’s gone, like a periscope submerging into the snow, the face disappears in an instant. A few meters away it pops up again, first the face, then the head and neck, then finally the whole creature emerges from beneath.

Popping up from the Hokkaido snow like periscopes, these sables may look endearing, but all they really want to do is kill.

Lithe and long with short stout legs and a long bushy tail, it has as soft and gentle a face as you could imagine — but one that most definitely belies the beast’s true nature. Its tiny black button nose, black beady eyes, short rounded ears and tapered face give it a fox-like appearance, but that horribly overworked word “cute” rises unbidden into my mind.

“Cute” isn’t the half of it.

Most ferocious predator

This creature is a sable, to scientists it’s also known as Martes zibellina, and it belongs to the Mammalian family Mustelidae, which is the largest family within the Order Carnivora.