IRENAUS EIBL-EIBESFELDT 6 1 



shoulder or a leg. Then the rat immediately turned in defence, and the 

 polecat, evidently surprised, released its grip, normally attacking again and 

 again. The more anterior the hold on its prey, the more difficult was it for 

 the latter to defend itself. If the polecat was successful in grasping the 

 rat's neck, then it could kill the rat easily. The polecats learned the right 

 grip quite rapidly. One killed its first prey within 20 seconds, with only 

 three attacks. Others needed 1-15 minutes, depending on the behaviour of 

 the rat. After having killed four to six rats, one each day, a polecat was a 

 skilful hunter and its killing bite was always directed towards the neck of 

 the prey. One female that was bitten by the rat showed fear and on the 

 following 3 days, avoided the rat which had been left with her. The rat 

 slept in the polecat's nest, which the polecat avoided. When awake the 

 polecat restlessly ran up and down in the cage. On the fourth day it killed 

 the rat. It became a good hunter from then on. 



The one polecat tested at an age of 10 months got bitten too, and it 

 avoided the rat even i month later. Unfortunately this polecat escaped. 



There were no differences between the behaviour of those seven raised 

 in isolation and that of those left with their litter mates. In both groups, 

 the first attack was released by the fleeing prey, and both had to learn the 

 correct orientation of the killing bite. There arc, however, indications 

 that those raised with litter-mates learned this orientation faster, probably 

 as the result of experience while playing. Four succeeded within i minute. 



The movements described above, such as shaking, killing bite and 

 turning the prey on its back, were observed at the first encounter. 



Five polecats, at 2 years of age, were confronted with young chicks of 

 the domestic fowl. They were previously fed with dead chicks. Neverthe- 

 less, none of the experimental animals attacked the chicken as long as it did 

 not move. They sniffed at it and only when it ran away did three of the 

 polecats follow and grasp it. Two of them killed it within a few seconds 

 by bites in its back, one that had not got a very good hold released the 

 grip when the chicken started struggling, but killed it with the next bite. 

 All three killed thereafter without hesitation, but they did not aim their 

 bites towards the neck of the prey, very probably because these animals, 

 not capable of self-defence, did not demand the development of a special 

 killing technique. They were equally easily killed by bites m the back, side, 

 chest, or neck. 



The other two polecats also showed great interest in the chicken. They 

 sniffed and licked it, meanwhile uttering the low sounds (muttering) that 

 normally express readiness for social contact (Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1955). 

 After some minutes they turned away, but returned after a while to 



