On Certain Properties of Water and Energy Metabolism in Representatives of Martes and Mustela Genera (Mammalia: Mustelidae)

The quantities of consumed food and water, quantity and moisture contents of faeces as well as quantity and concentration of excreted urine were determined in representatives of Martes—European pine marten (M. martes) and sable (M. zibellina)—as well as in polecat (Mustela putorius). Under the same cage conditions and free access to food, all three species have similar energy value of their daily diet. However, the level of drinking water consumption and the ratio between the daily total water and energy intake was reliably higher in both Martes species than in polecat. In addition, both marten and sable featured much higher rate of evaporation loss in the overall water balance and, consequently, a higher quantity of heat dissipated with evaporation as compared to polecat. Comparison of the obtained and previous data (Sokolov et al., 1995; Rozhnov, 1991) allowed us to propose that the mentioned differences are specific for representatives of Martes and Mustela genera irrespective of ecological specialization of particular species.