From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2001-04-12 11:10:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Darkness
> >Well, if the animal's ancestor is likely to sleep in a burrow setting
>>or other well protected setting then light exclusion is to be
>>expected as natural, as opposed to for critters like tree-resting
>>primates.
>
>A few people wrote something similar in response to my question-- it makes
>some sense, but a ferret/polecat doesn't sleep through all the night hours,
>does it? If only because of that short digestion cycle. I know my free
>range ferrets have always been pretty active at dusk and dawn, as well as
>conducting occasional nighttime forays into things that would get them into
>trouble if I were awake ;) Maybe I'm being too nitpicky-- I just always look
>for the shades of grey when I see black and white, I guess.
>
>Regina
>
>Regina Harrison or regina@c...
>http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083
>http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Labyrinth/8096
Polecats are mostly crepuscular -- meaning that most activity is
during the hours with small amounts of light, those around dawn and
dusk.
Bob is likely to be the best one to clear this up, but I suspect that
they are rather like raccoons in preferred active hours beyond the
crepuscular ones: dawn and dusk, some night hours with decent enough
night-lighting like a good moon glow when needed, and daylight hours
reserved for special situations like having too much rain at night to
seek food then or needing extra calories due to pregnancy, nursing,
feeding kits, etc.