HomeBlogWeasel familyDo Fishers Slide? What about the other weasels?

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Do Fishers Slide? What about the other weasels? — 23 Comments

  1. 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.

  2. Great video of fisher! I like the way you distinguish drag vs slide and break down who slides and who drags. Good info. Thanks

    • 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

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

    • 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!

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