Trivia question for Aug-10-2011

Carter would like one of these as a pet if he could figure out how to make them a vegetarian.  Until then, he is just going to have to include them in his trivia.  These are one of the few creatures that’s daring enough and skilled enough to attack and kill a porcupine.

These guys prefer to hunt in full forest. While they are agile climbers most of their time is spent on the forest floor. They also prefer to forage where there is a lot of fallen dead wood on the forest floor. They are omnivorous and will feed on a wide variety of small animals and occasionally fruits and mushrooms. They show a preference for the snowshoe hare.  They are most active during dawn and dusk hours of the day. They are active year-round. They are solitary, only associating with other of their species for mating purposes. Males become more active during mating season. Females are least active during pregnancy and gradually increase activity after birth of their kits.

So here are Carter’s questions:  Tell us what this animal is and where it’s unusual name comes from?  Also, tell us what the main purpose was for breeding these animals which were all released in the wild for one particular reason?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to our friend Carmel for being the first to identify the species we featured.  The fisher is a medium-sized mammal native to North America. It is a member of the mustelid family, commonly referred to as the weasel family. The fisher is closely related to but larger than the American Marten. The fisher is a forest-dwelling creature whose range covers much of the boreal forest in Canada to the northern fringes of the United States. Names derived from aboriginal languages include pekan, pequam, and wejack. It is also sometimes referred to as a fisher cat, though it is not a feline.

The Fisher isn’t named because of its skill at catching fish.  The Old English, Dutch and French words for European polecat (fiche, fitche and fichet) are the source.  These guys were bred for release back in the 50;s to reduce porcupine numbers.  Here is more on these guys:  Fisher

Thanks for playing along 😉