The Polecat's Living Larder

Transcript

In a Scottish nest, observers found five young polecats and a separate larder packed with forty large frogs and two toads. The startling part was that every frog and toad was still alive, yet all were so immobilized that they could only sprawl a little. The account says the mother polecat had purposely and dexterously bitten them through the brain, striking them with palsy so they stayed fresh for her young. It sounds cruel, but the story frames it as instinctive care, a way to provide a living store of food for the family.