Do Fishers Slide? What about the other weasels?
The fisher and its cousin the river otter often create tracks and trail patterns of similar appearance. If tracking conditions are poor and tracks are unclear, distinguishing between these two mustelids can be tricky business. However in snow, otters usually slide frequently, creating a characteristic toboggan-like impression. But do fishers slide, as well? Not very often, and I don’t know if they ever really slide for the purpose of efficient travel, as otters do. Maybe they do, but my interpretation of the fisher “slides” that I have found so far, was that the animal was dragging and rubbing its underside, probably for the purpose of scent marking, maybe for grooming, but not sliding to move quickly. For this reason, I prefer to call these “drags” rather than “slides”, for the latter implies a similarity to what the otter is doing.
Watch the fisher action in the video below. Notice that at about 17 seconds, the animal begins to “slide” on the ice. This fisher was clearly not sliding for the sake of travel. It rubbed its underside on the ice, and then proceeded to lick its groin. To me, this suggests that the purpose was scent marking, grooming, or both.
Now here’s an example of a fisher “slide” (drag) in about 1/2 inch of snow on ice. This one is very short – pretty clearly a body drag, not a slide, and not for the purpose of travel.
Here’s another fisher “slide”, this time in deeper snow, on approximately level ground (slightly downhill), and a little longer (~3 feet). This one looks similar to an otter slide, but it’s still quite short. Scent marking? Grooming? Efficient travel? Or just plain fun? I think scent marking is likely, grooming is likely, fun is possible, but efficient travel is unlikely.
Now check out this otter slide, which was about 8-10 inches wide.. The animal did this all the way across the frozen pond, periodically pushing off with its feet. This is an animal sliding to travel.
An otter slide.
Mink may also slide for travel. On occasion mink leave long slide marks when moving downhill in snow, as seen in the example below. To me that suggests sliding for the purpose of efficient travel…so I am content to call a mink slide a slide. Perhaps mink sometimes also drag their bodies for shorter distances to scent mark.
To press the point about the distinction between sliding for travel vs. dragging for other purposes, let’s look at some of the other mustelids. Badgers also rub their undersides on the ground, presumably to scent mark, but we don’t call that “sliding”. Here’s a photo of the sign left by a badger dragging its belly on flat, level ground:
Martens also “slide”. But is it sliding, in the same sense that otters slide, or is it dragging? I think the latter. In my experience with marten tracking and camera trapping so far, this species drags its belly and/or groin, often near the base of a large tree or stump. Even when the slide is several feet long, a little spot of yellow – perhaps urine or some glandular secretion – may be seen. Therefore, I believe this dragging is done for the purpose of scent marking.
And, for the sake of completion, I’ll mention the smaller weasels. From them I’ve seen only short “slides” of no more than a few feet, so far, which I think indicate scent marking. Here’s one from a long-tailed weasel:
So, to sum up, the evidence suggests that otters and mink slide for efficient travel, but I have yet to see convincing evidence that fishers, not mention the other mustelids discussed here, do the same. I think the short “slides” produced by the fisher and other mustelids reflect scent marking and/or grooming, and maybe sometimes goofy behavior just to have fun in the snow. If you see evidence of a fisher sliding for more than several feet, I’d love to hear from you, especially if you have good photos of the slides with something for scale, as well as photos of the tracks or other evidence indicating that the animal was, in fact, a fisher.
Edit 1/10/2019: Someone just provided excellent documentation of fisher sliding which probably was for the purpose of travel. It’s a 10 foot long, downhill slide, with associated photos indicating that the animal was a fisher, and not an otter.
Fascinating article, great captures Janet. I noticed that the fisher in the first video even tried to get its neck down into the drag. That otters and mink slide while others drag brings up the coincidence that the sliding mustelids are our two most hydrophilic species. Perhaps a higher oil content in the fur makes sliding easier than for the other mustelids. Any hypotheses on this, or other reasons that the other mustelids prefer to slide less?
Good question, and good thought about the oil content of the coat. I hadn’t thought about that. After watching otters slide and swim in captivity, I came to the conclusion that their sliding is a lot like swimming – The position of their legs and the body movement when they slide looks a lot like their movement in water. So I thought maybe they were just better adapted to moving that way, whereas fishers and martens are more efficient at loping.
Hmmm, I wonder what they will look like a thousand years from now, if they will continue to differentiate!
Us, too, if we make it another thousand years.
Great video of fisher! I like the way you distinguish drag vs slide and break down who slides and who drags. Good info. Thanks
Thanks, Linda, I’m glad you found it useful!
Also, definitely looks like scent marking but any idea why there? Smooth ice is a far cry from the traditional fisher scent post
Was it going around nose to the ground hunting, or maybe onto an “intruder”. When fishers mark a rotten stump could it be mating marking vs they may mark anytime they catch wind of another?
The behavioral aspect of what you are capturing on your cameras fascinates me. Keep it coming!!!
Yeah, hard to say why there, but they do it in snow anywhere while traveling, not only at stumps (though often at stumps). Anyway, I’m convinced that animals sometimes have multiple reasons for doing things we call scent marking. It might just feel good, it might relieve an itch, have grooming purposes, etc. They might not even be conscious of the fact that other individuals get information from the scent left behind.
Hi, in northern lower Michigan I saw a distinct and continuous slide in the snow about 8″ wide and maybe 5-6′ between strokes on a gentle slope going some distance (sorry, no pics). While it seemed distinctly otter-like, there was no water around except a small pond, 1/4 acre, in one direction about 200 yards and a small lake in the other, 1/4 mile. The woods were northern hardwood with a few scattered white pines.
Any suggestions as to what it might have been?
Thanks much,
Ivan
Mink slide in a manner similar to otters, but much less frequently. The only locations I’ve ever found mink slides are on fairly steep slopes when the mink were going downhill. Apparently sliding is a much less efficient means of travel for mink than it is for otters.
Yes, I agree. That is exactly my experience in tracking mink.
I watched three otters sliding in snow and thought it was playful. They were within fifty yards and I realized when I examined the trail that had I not seen the movement I would not have guessed the source. It was thrilling to see this.
Yes, a lot of people think otters slide just to play. That may well be. How lucky you were to see that. I have seen them in person hunting in ponds and loping across frozen ponds, but have not seen them sliding around in snow.
Hi, in northern lower Michigan I saw a distinct and continuous slide in the snow about 8″ wide and maybe 5-6′ between strokes on a gentle slope going some distance (sorry, no pics). While it seemed distinctly otter-like, there was no water around except a small pond, 1/4 acre, in one direction about 200 yards and a small lake in the other, 1/4 mile. The woods were northern hardwood with a few scattered white pines.
Any suggestions as to what it might have been?
Thanks much,
Ivan
Hi Ivan, that sounds like otter. They do go upland, at times well away from water, though usually en route between water bodies. In my area there’s a place where they regularly travel 1/4 mile between a lake and a pond, and the ascend and descend a fairly steep hill to make that journey. Not unusual at all.
My friend and I were hiking today (12-23-2020) in a hilly, snow covered remote area in northern Wisconsin. We saw a long path that was at least 10 feet long! It appeared to be a belly slide marking that started across one side of the forest road, went across the road and down the hill on the other side. There were footprints within the slide marking that looked like Fischer tracks. We took some pictures.
Those could well have been otter tracks and a slide, because otter tracks look very much like fisher tracks. While fishers do create short slides, otters do so much more commonly.
Hi,Janet~
Thought you might be able to help me identify a “slide” I saw today in fairly deep snow in central Iowa. It is very long (maybe 200 feet) and begins in a grassy field atop a hill. It descends all the way down through woods and into a valley. It is consistently 6-8″ wide with no identifiable footprints (snow was too deep to tell). I will explore it more tomorrow. At first I wondered if it could be otter, but that seems unusual for the location, which is quite a distance from any good stream. I tried looking online and saw it is not as wide as most otters, but wider than most mink or fishers. I’m so curious!
Hi Angela, it’s really tough to say without seeing photos. Any animal whose legs are short relative to the snow depth can leave a trough, so look carefully for the tracks within the trough. Even if you cannot see foot morphology, make note of how large the step length is – that helps narrow down the species. Also look at what the trail is like before and after the 200 foot “slide” or trough.
What the slide in my yard seems to have is ridges on both sides
This slide was made in snow the last two nights and is 7.5 inches across and 10 feet long down a light slope on my side yard. Wish I knew whether it was a fisher or an otter!
Any ideas? Alongside are four single tracks as though it was giving itself a push.
Hi Ann, I’d have to see some photos of it and any associated tracks.
thank you very much
I will try and send; have several
Do I send them to an email?
great I can send although not sure how to do that
I took several photos and a short video and can definitely send the to you
just need a little instruction as to how/where as I am not that great with computer
I can send them to an email via dropbox, I think
Thanks!