This is the moment a nimble and playful family of steppe ferrets are caught in a camera trap at Chornye Zemli Nature Reserve having taken over a gopher colony and made a meal of the occupants.

The footage was shot in the Chernozemelsky District of the Republic of Kalmykia in Russia in June this year (2024).

Experts from Chornye Zemli Nature Reserve said in a statement obtained by Clipzilla: “A camera trap installed in the Chernye Zemli Nature Reserve near a ferret’s brood hole, traditionally taken from a small gopher, allowed us to enjoy footage of a very nimble and cheerful family!

“The family of mustelids, to which our today’s hero, the steppe ferret belongs, has a very ancient history. The first forms of mustelids appeared about 40 million years ago, which roughly coincided with the appearance of rodents.

“Therefore, all mustelids have an elongated body shape and relatively short legs – so that they can penetrate the burrows of their potential victims without any problems!

“Over the course of evolution, the family was fragmented into numerous genera and species, but some of them remained quite highly specialized.

“These include the steppe ferret, whose well-being in the steppe expanses of Kalmykia largely depends on the small gopher, or more precisely, on its quantity!

“There is a clear direct relationship in the population dynamics of these two species. The more gophers there are, the more ferrets multiply.

“Having found a large thriving colony of small gophers, a family of ferrets “settles” in this area until their ranks are thinned out so much that the search for new victims becomes necessary.

” Then the ferrets set off in search of the next colony! Ferrets live in the burrows of their victims, digging them up and arranging them according to their own needs.

“And even the winter hibernation of gophers deep underground does not guarantee their complete safety – ferrets can find them there too, digging wintering holes and using the gophers as a supply of live “canned food”.

“Voles, gerbils, jerboas, and hamsters can also become victims of the steppe ferret; they will not pass by bird clutches and chicks, and will happily snack on a frog, snake or locust.

“The ferrets themselves can become victims of the steppe eagle or die in competition with a fox or wolf.”