The Zoochat Photographic Guide to Small Carnivores

intend to do a big re-edit of the thread to make it match with other photographic guides by including subspecies and therefore adding extra photos where appropriate, so shall add them in then.

Excellent - another thing to deal with when (as I intend) I comprehensively edit this thread to make it fit the same format as the other Photographic Guides.

As previously promised, I shall now be undertaking a comprehensive re-edit of this thread; I shall post updates to let people know when I have worked on it, how far my edits have come, and which photographs have been added into the main body of the thread.
 
First edit to the thread:

The family overview for Mustelidae found here has been edited to fit the format found in other Photographic guides; it will undergo further edits to reflect slight differences in species and genus count subsequent to latest taxonomic research.

The subfamily posts for Taxidiinae and Mellivorinae have been split from the genera within.

The genus post for Taxidea found here has undergone substantial edits, with the addition of all four subspecies to the main account for American Badger - all of which are now illustrated using photographs taken by @Elephant Enthusiast , @Blackduiker , @Wild wolverine and @Julio C Castro

The genus post for Mellivora found here has undergone substantial edits, with the addition of all ten subspecies to the main account for Honey Badger, of which four are now illustrated using photographs taken by @ro6ca66 , @Giant Eland and @bongowwf
 
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Second edit to the thread:

The subfamily posts for Melinae and Martinae have been split from the genera within.

The genus post for Arctonyx found here has undergone minor edits, with the addition of new photographs representing each of the three species within - these were taken by @Ding Lingwei , @Chlidonias and @Giant Eland

The genus post for Meles found here has undergone several edits, including the addition of Caucasian Badger and photographs by @ThylacineAlive , @alexkant , @Ding Lingwei , @YuanChang and @Giant Eland

The genus post for Pekania found here has undergone minor edits to reflect subspecies, and the addition of photographs by @ThylacineAlive and @pachyderm pro

The genus post for Gulo found here has undergone minor edits to reflect subspecies, and the addition of photographs by @Tomek and @geomorph

The genus post for Eira found here has undergone substantial edits, with the addition of photographs depicting all but one of the seven recognised subspecies, taken by the following Zoochat members: @Giant Eland , @robreintjes , @devilfish , @hmb_zoo , @carlos55 and @Big Rob

The genus post for Martes has been created, and is awaiting edits.
 
As previously promised, I shall now be undertaking a comprehensive re-edit of this thread; I shall post updates to let people know when I have worked on it, how far my edits have come, and which photographs have been added into the main body of the thread.

I have a few pictures (albeit bad) of Mustela nivalis numidica which I think would be a new taxon for the gallery. Will upload them soon.
 
I have a few pictures (albeit bad) of Mustela nivalis numidica which I think would be a new taxon for the gallery. Will upload them soon.

Excellent :) given the low quality of some of the images I'll be adding to this thread in the fullness of time, on account of the fact we have no other alternatives and the taxa in question are pretty unusual, this will be no problem!

And of course, if you have any other photographs which you think may be of use, add them too!
 
Third edits to the thread:

The genus post for Martes found here has undergone significant edits, including the addition of subspecies to Yellow-throated Marten and Japanese Marten and the addition of Pacific Marten as a new species, and the inclusion of photographs taken by @YuanChang , @ro6ca66 , @Chlidonias , @Giant Eland , @alexkant , @littleRedPanda and @aardvark250

The subfamily post for Helictidinae has been split from the genus account for Melogale.

The genus post for Melogale found here has undergone significant edits, including the addition of subspecies to Cuc Phuong Ferret-badger, Burmese Ferret-badger, Chinese Ferret-badger and Javan Ferret-badger, the addition of Formosan Ferret-badger as a new species, and the inclusion of numerous photographs illustrating several taxa within this genus taken by @Giant Eland , @Michal Sloviak , @Himimomi , @Chlidonias and @HOMIN96

The subfamily post for Galictidinae has been split from the accounts for the five genera within.

The genera posts for Galictis, Lyncodon, Vormela, Ictonyx and Poecilogale have been created and are awaiting edits.
 
Third edits to the thread:

The subfamily post for Helictidinae has been split from the genus account for Melogale.

The genus post for Melogale found here has undergone significant edits, including the addition of subspecies to Cuc Phuong Ferret-badger, Burmese Ferret-badger, Chinese Ferret-badger and Javan Ferret-badger, the addition of Formosan Ferret-badger as a new species, and the inclusion of numerous photographs illustrating several taxa within this genus taken by @Giant Eland , @Michal Sloviak , @Himimomi , @Chlidonias and @HOMIN96

It never ceases to amaze me how, even as a carnivoran researcher myself (actively researching taxonomy and nomenclature across the order), I can still get caught out by revisions like the ones emphasised above. I had no idea there was a second subspecies of M. cucphuongensis, but indeed you're right, I found the paper after a quick search in a journal I had subscribed to alerts from but must have missed. What study/studies have promoted the split of subaurantiaca from moschata? I might have it in my pile of unread papers but honestly can't remember.

Would also love to find out your methods for remaining on top of things like this. All I can do is sign up to email alerts for every possible thing meaning my inboxes (yes, plural - I have a separate one for Zoochat threads) are often overloaded.
 
Gulo


Wolverine (G. gulo)

The range of this species extends across much of the subarctic and alpine tundra and boreal forests of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest concentrations in northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia and Fennoscandia. In the Old World the species extends south to the Baltic States, northeast China and Mongolia, and in the New World scattered populations extend south into the United States within the Rocky Mountains and Cascades.

Two subspecies are currently recognised, as follows:

G. g. gulo
- photo by @Tomek

full


G. g. luscus
- photo by @geomorph

full
The Wolverines at Minnesota should be Eurasian Wolverines, not North American :p.
 
The Wolverines at Minnesota should be Eurasian Wolverines, not North American :p.

Interesting - I had been under the impression that Minnesota has held the species since *prior* to the recent wave of Eurasian imports :P any pointers as to whereabouts holds North American?
 
Interesting - I had been under the impression that Minnesota has held the species since *prior* to the recent wave of Eurasian imports :p any pointers as to whereabouts holds North American?
I’m fairly certain that most (if not all) Wolverines in North America are Eurasian. You would probably have to find a photo of a wild specimen.
 
It never ceases to amaze me how, even as a carnivoran researcher myself (actively researching taxonomy and nomenclature across the order), I can still get caught out by revisions like the ones emphasised above. I had no idea there was a second subspecies of M. cucphuongensis, but indeed you're right, I found the paper after a quick search in a journal I had subscribed to alerts from but must have missed. What study/studies have promoted the split of subaurantiaca from moschata? I might have it in my pile of unread papers but honestly can't remember.

Would also love to find out your methods for remaining on top of things like this. All I can do is sign up to email alerts for every possible thing meaning my inboxes (yes, plural - I have a separate one for Zoochat threads) are often overloaded.

In this *particular* case both of these slipped past me too, until I picked up Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World - which I am using for these updates on the grounds it is almost a decade more up-to-date than the initial first volume of HMW which dealt with the Carnivora. Unfortunately the 2019 paper cited as having demonstrated the status of Formosan Ferret-badger appears to be paywalled.

As for my methods of keeping on top of the latest carnivoran taxonomy, they are roughly similar to yours - plus occasionally doing deep dives of any open-access journal sites for anything interesting I may have missed :p

I’m fairly certain that most (if not all) Wolverines in North America are Eurasian. You would probably have to find a photo of a wild specimen.

There were definitely North American around until recently, as I recall a fair bit of bemusement on Zoochat when the imports from Europe started up :p to clarify, do you know for sure that Minnesota holds Eurasian, or is this based on your assumption that all captive wolverines belong to this taxon?

There *are* wild shots in the gallery, as it happens, but not the best of quality.
 
There were definitely North American around until recently, as I recall a fair bit of bemusement on Zoochat when the imports from Europe started up :p to clarify, do you know for sure that Minnesota holds Eurasian, or is this based on your assumption that all captive wolverines belong to this taxon?

There *are* wild shots in the gallery, as it happens, but not the best of quality.
I remember when someone correcting me after I titled my media as “North American Wolverine Exhibit” and stating that they were instead Eurasian, but looking at the comment again, I realize that the person correcting me was not stating that they *were* Eurasian but that they *were likely* Eurasian.
I guess it’s possible that the zoo still has the North American subspecies, but It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if they decided to switch to Eurasian Wolverine, as it seems a bit odd for the zoo to breed the subspecies that is now mostly absent from American collections.
 
Unfortunately the 2019 paper cited as having demonstrated the status of Formosan Ferret-badger appears to be paywalled.
You can get a pdf via Google Scholar - but it is a Russian paper (only the abstract is in English). The paper is about ferret-badgers in Vietnam and the split given in it appears to be based solely on a 2011 paper by Hosoda et al (pdf linked below) which sampled exactly two ferret-badger specimens (one from Vietnam and one from Taiwan), finding a significant difference between them - described as inter-specific in genetic distance - but the authors obviously cautioned that there needs to be way more sampling done from other mainland locations to confirm if this is real or an artifact of such poor sampling.

However, given that Taiwan does have a number of endemic mammal species, including serow and macaque, it wouldn't surprise me if it is a valid split. There would need to be some proper genetic sampling done though, and I can't see any published evidence that this has happened.


https://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/46203/1/CJZ89-6_559-569.pdf
 
The range of this species extends throughout southern and eastern Asia from Afghanistan and Pakistan in the west, east through the Himalayas of India, Nepal and Bhutan into southern China, the Korean peninsula and Indochina.

Six subspecies are currently recognised, as follows:
Is this from HMW, for Yellow-throated Marten? The distribution is missing the Greater Sundas, and what has happened to the other subspecies like saba (from Borneo)? I thought maybe they'd made a split but you haven't listed one.
 
The status of Wolverines in American zoos is a big mess. I know there have been American animals in our zoos in the past but I don't know when they were kept or who may have them now. I would take a guess that individuals at smaller non-AZA zoos like Alaska and New York State Zoo probably have the American subspecies while most AZA animals nowadays are going to be Eurasian.

~Thylo
 
Is this from HMW, for Yellow-throated Marten? The distribution is missing the Greater Sundas, and what has happened to the other subspecies like saba (from Borneo)? I thought maybe they'd made a split but you haven't listed one.

The fact the distribution omits the Greater Sundas is an error on my part from when I originally wrote the post which I subsequently didn't catch when editing the post recently :p as for saba, it appears to be included within peninsularis given the range listed for said subspecies. Similarly, aterrima seems to have been lumped into borealis.
 
Fourth edits to the thread:

The genus post for Galictis found here has undergone significant edits, with the addition of subspecies and photographs taken by @carlos55 , @Therabu , @devilfish , @ro6ca66 and @Giant Eland

The genus post for Lyncodon found here has undergone very minor edits.

The genus post for Vormela found here has undergone minor edits, with the addition of subspecies and photographs taken by @MagpieGoose , @TeaLovingDave and @gentle lemur

The genus post for Ictonyx found here has undergone minor edits, with the addition of subspecies and photographs taken by @Giant Eland , @ThylacineAlive and @Tomek

The genus post for Poecilogale found here has undergone very minor edits.

The subfamily post for Mustelinae has been split from the genera accounts for Neovison (renamed Neogale to fit modern taxonomy) and Mustela.
 
The fact the distribution omits the Greater Sundas is an error on my part from when I originally wrote the post which I subsequently didn't catch when editing the post recently :p as for saba, it appears to be included within peninsularis given the range listed for said subspecies. Similarly, aterrima seems to have been lumped into borealis.
I don't suppose they give any reference for why they lump saba and henrici into peninsularis? Typically Bornean subspecies of small carnivores are now being split as full species rather than lumped into other mainland subspecies, so what they have done here is interesting. (Apart for that, henrici is an older name than peninsularis).

Also, there are probably better photos of indochinensis than that one of mine you've used. The one at Angkor Zoo for example.
 
Fourth edits to the thread:

The genus post for Galictis found here has undergone significant edits, with the addition of subspecies and photographs taken by @carlos55 , @Therabu , @devilfish , @ro6ca66 and @Giant Eland

The genus post for Lyncodon found here has undergone very minor edits.

The genus post for Vormela found here has undergone minor edits, with the addition of subspecies and photographs taken by @MagpieGoose , @TeaLovingDave and @gentle lemur

The genus post for Ictonyx found here has undergone minor edits, with the addition of subspecies and photographs taken by @Giant Eland , @ThylacineAlive and @Tomek

The genus post for Poecilogale found here has undergone very minor edits.

The subfamily post for Mustelinae has been split from the genera accounts for Neovison (renamed Neogale to fit modern taxonomy) and Mustela.
Does Magdeburg hold two subspecies? Because zootierliste didn't specify their subspecies status.
 
I don't suppose they give any reference for why they lump saba and henrici into peninsularis?

Unfortunately not; nor why they use the latter rather than henrici.

Also, there are probably better photos of indochinensis than that one of mine you've used. The one at Angkor Zoo for example.

I'd completely missed that shot when raking the gallery - cheers!

Does Magdeburg hold two subspecies? Because zootierliste didn't specify their subspecies status.

The current stock arrived in 2017 from Novosibirsk, where a breeding population of nominate derived from local stock has been present for decades. For whatever reason, ZTL isn't great at labelling subspecific status for the species.

The former stock until 2015 were a combination of Syrian - like many of the latterly-held animals in Western Europe - and Kazakh (with customs seizure being the source of these individuals). ZTL actually does represent the Syrian population in former holdings AFAIK.
 
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