Mallorca

"The most characteristic on the island are the wildcat and the genet. The former seems to have sought out its future in the forests and is almost always seen alone. It chases after rabbits and hares and raids birds’ nests which it reaches with great skill even when they are in the tallest and, we could say, most inaccessible branches. The genet (Viverra gennetta) is very numerous on the island and is an extremely delicate looking animal, with a dark grey coat with black spots, white spots on its cheeks and black rings on its tail. Another variety has completely black fur. Genets live in hollowed out tree trunks and abandoned buildings, both on the plain and in the mountains. Nor does it disdain dilapidated porches (buhardas) of old country homes where it hides by day and sets out at night to hunt, when the dark helps it carry out its mischief in nearby pigeon lofts and henhouses. It raids these quite easily, no matter how high their walls or how small the gaps might seem. It should come as no surprise, then, that once inside the scene of the crime, it takes no prisoners and doesn’t leave without making all the feathered creatures its victims. If taken at a young age, the genet is easily domesticated. I should add in this respect that I know a man in Palma that has had one of these animals in captivity for several years.

The Mustela vulgaris weasel, called mostel in Mallorcan, is also relatively frequent on the island. Though smaller than its cousin the genet, it too causes havoc in Palma’s pigeon lofts. Hungry for blood, it kills its victims, leaving their bloodless cadavers strewn about. In the island’s mountainous areas and always near human settlements we find the Mustela foina. As soon as night falls, it abandons its den, it circles around the buildings and, if it manages to penetrate the henhouse, it kills all the hens and steals away with them one by one until leaving the coop empty.

Another common animal is the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) or eriçó for island natives. It hides during the day in the holes of the oldest trees or in dens made in piles of rocks, coming out at night in search of a sumptuous banquet of snails, larvae and worms."

Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria. Las Baleares por la palabra y el grabado. Majorca: General Part. Ed. Sa Nostra, Caja de Baleares. Palma de Mallorca. 1982.