Weasel
Weasels | ||||||||||||||
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Long-tailed Weasel
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Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
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Mustela africana |
Weasels are mammals in the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. Originally, the name "weasel" was applied to one species of the genus, the European form of the Least Weasel (Mustela nivalis). Early literary references to weasels, for example their common appearances in fables, refer to this species rather than to the genus as a whole, reflecting what is still the common usage in Britain. In technical discourse, however, as in American usage, the term "weasel" can refer to any member of the genus, or to the genus as a whole. Of the 16 extant species currently classified in the genus Mustela, 10 have "weasel" in their common name. Among those that do not are the stoat or ermine, the two species of mink, and the polecats or ferrets.
Overview
Carnivora is an order of mammals that includes such familiar groups as dogs, cats, bears, and seals. There are over 260 species in Carnivora.
Members of Carnivora are placed into two main sub-orders: Feliformia (cat-like) and Caniformia (dog-like). Some of the major sub-groups within Feliformia are the families Felidae (cats), Hyaenidae (hyenaa), and Herpestidae (mongooses). Some of the major sub-groups within Caniformina are the families Canidae (dogs, wolves, and foxes), Ursidae (bears), Mustelidae (weasels, badgers, and otters), and Mephitidae (skunks), as well as the pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses).
Family Mustelidae: weasels, martens, badgers, and otters; 55 species in 24 genera
Mustelidae or Mustelids (from Latin mustela, weasel), commonly referred to as the weasel family, is a family of carnivorous mammals. The Mustelidae is a diverse family and the largest in the order Carnivora, at least partly because it has in the past been a catch-all category for many early or poorly differentiated taxa.[1]
The Mustelidae in general are phylogenetically relatively primitive and so were difficult to classify until genetic evidence started to become available. The increasing availability of such evidence may well result in some members of the family being moved to their own separate families, as has already happened with the skunks, previously considered to be members of the mustelid family.
Mustelids vary greatly in size and behavior. The least weasel is not much larger than a mouse. The giant otter can weigh up to 76 lb (34 kg). The wolverine can crush bones as thick as the femur of a moose to get at the marrow, and has been seen attempting to drive bears from kills. the sea otter uses rocks to break open shellfish to eat. The marten is largely arboreal, while the badger digs extensive networks of tunnels, called setts. Some mustelids have been domesticated. The ferret and the tayra are kept as pets, or as working animals for hunting or vermin control. Others have been important in the fur trade. The mink is often raised for its fur.
As well as one of the most species-rich families in the order Carnivora, mustelidae is one of the oldest. Mustelid-like forms first appeared about 40 million years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of rodents. The direct ancestors of the modern mustelids first appeared about 15 million years ago.
Within a large range of variation, the mustelids exhibit some common characteristics.
They are typically small animals with short legs, short round ears, and thick fur. Some mustelids have exquisite furs which have been valuable for many centuries—the mink, the sable (a type of marten) and the ermine (stoat) are all members of the family. This has led to the hunting of these animals, especially in the past. One species, the sea mink (Mustela macrodon) of New England and Canada, was driven to extinction by fur trappers around the same time that the passenger pigeon was declining. Its appearance and habits are almost unknown today because no complete specimens can be found and no systematic contemporary studies were conducted. Today some mustelids are in trouble for other reasons. The sea otter, that almost shared the fate of the sea mink, now risks being destroyed by oil spills and the side effects of overfishing; the black-footed ferret, a relative of the European polecat, suffers from the disappearance of the American prairie; and the wolverine is in a long, slow decline because of habitat destruction and persecution.
Weasels vary in length from 15 to 35 centimeters (6 to 14 inches), and usually have a light brown upper coat, white belly and black fur at the tip of the tail; in many species, populations living at high latitudes moult to a white coat with black fur at the tip of the tail in winter. They have long slender bodies, which enable them to follow their prey into burrows. Their tails are typically almost as long as the rest of their bodies. As is typical of small carnivores, weasels have a reputation for cleverness and guile. They also have tails that can be any where from 22-33cm long and they use these to defend the food they get and to claim territory from other weasels.
Weasels feed on small mammals, and in former times were considered vermin since some species took poultry from farms, or rabbits from commercial warrens. Certain species of weasel and ferrets, have been reported to perform the mesmerizing weasel war dance, after fighting other creatures, or acquiring food from competing creatures. In folklore at least, this dance is particularly associated with the stoat.
Collective nouns for a group of weasels include boogle, gang, pack, and confusion.[2]
Weasels are found all across the world except for Australia and neighbouring islands.
Species
The following information is according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System, and IUCN 2006 for the extinct Mutela macrodon.
Species | Species Authority | Common Names | Geographic Division1 |
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Mustela africana | Desmarest, 1818 | Tropical weasel | South America |
Mustela altaica | Pallas, 1811 | Mountain weasel | Europe & Northern Asia Southern Asia |
Mustela erminea | Linnaeus, 1758 | Stoat Ermine |
Australia (non-native) Europe & Northern Asia (non-native) North America Southern Asia (non-native) |
Mustela eversmannii | Lesson, 1827 | Steppe polecat | Europe & Northern Asia Southern Asia |
Mustela felipei | Izor and de la Torre, 1978 | Colombian weasel | South America |
Mustela frenata | Lichtenstein, 1831 | Long-tailed weasel | Middle America North America South America |
Mustela kathiah | Hodgson, 1835 | Yellow-bellied weasel | Southern Asia |
Mustela lutreola | (Linnaeus, 1761) | European mink | Europe & Northern Asia |
Mustela lutreolina | Robinson and Thomas, 1917 | Indonesian mountain weasel | Southern Asia |
Mustela macrodon | Prentis, 1903 | Sea mink | North America |
Mustela nigripes | (Audubon and Bachman, 1851) | Black-footed ferret | North America |
Mustela nivalis | Linnaeus, 1766 | Least weasel | Europe & Northern Asia (non-native) North America Southern Asia (non-native) |
Mustela nudipes | Desmarest, 1822 | Malayan weasel | Southern Asia |
Mustela putorius | Linnaeus, 1758 | European Polecat | Europe & Northern Asia |
Mustela sibirica | Pallas, 1773 | Siberian weasel | Europe & Northern Asia Southern Asia |
Mustela strigidorsa | Gray, 1855 | Black-striped weasel | Southern Asia |
Mustela vison | Schreber, 1777 | American mink Mink |
Europe & Northern Asia (non-native) North America |
1 Europe & Northern Asia division excludes China.
Popular culture references
In English-language popular culture in particular, the term "weasel" is associated with devious characters. Many of these references tend to treat weasels as a species rather than a genus; for example, in Brian Jacques' Redwall series, weasels are one of many villainous races, along with rats and ferrets — although ferrets, biologically speaking, are a species of weasel. In the Dilbert cartoons, some of the most devious characters are portrayed as weasels or with weasel-like features. In reference to the weasel's reputation for skullduggery, the phrase "weasel words" means insincere or devious speech. Elements of the U.S. media described the declaration by France, Germany, and Belgium against the 2003 invasion of Iraq as "The Axis Of Weasel", a pun on the "Axis of Evil". A popular cynical office poster states, "Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines," meaning that office workers who stay low and act in their own self-interest may be less likely to rise in the organization but are also less likely to be destroyed as a result of office politics.
British popular-culture references to weasels are generally specifically to the Least Weasel. For example, Alan Lloyd's novel Kine, about a fictional war in the English countryside between weasels and the invasive species mink, depicts the latter as sadistic, voracious invaders, giants in comparison to the weasels; in American usage, both species would be kinds of weasel. Similarly, in Kenneth Grahame's popular story The Wind in the Willows the villains are the weasels and the stoats, again two species of weasel in American usage. Here everyday usage reflects the original European use of the word weasel for a single species.
A kamaitachi is, according to Japanese myth, a malevolent, weasel-like wind spirit, wielding a sharp sickle. They are nearly always depicted in groups of three individuals, and the three act together in their attacks; the first one hits the victim so that he/she falls to the ground, the second slashes with the sickle, and the third partially heals the wound. Also in Japanese mythology, weasels represent bad luck and death.
A cartoon shown on Cartoon Network is entitled I Am Weasel, whose main character is a weasel.
A notable and infamous character of the American animated series Animaniacs is Minerva Mink, a beautiful, vain yet shallow mink female who is particularly chased after for her fur. Although intended to be a major character of the series, the depiction of her sexuality on children's television caused a censor uproar, forcing the writers to deemphasize her character. Although Minerva starred in two cartoons, she remained a semi-prominent member of the show's cast.
Music parodist Weird Al Yankovic wrote a song entitled Weasel Stomping Day, which was later made into a short video shown in an episode of Robot Chicken. It depicts weasels being stomped to death.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Mustela (TSN 180552). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 24 July 2007.
- Mustelid, Viverrid & Procyonid Specialist Group 2002. [1]. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species., World Conservation Union. Retrieved on 24 July 2007.
- Nowak, Ronald M., and Ernest P. Walker. Walker's Carnivores of the World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. ISBN 0801880335, ISBN 0801880327.
- ↑ A Skunk By Any Other Name…. Dragoo Institute for the Betterment of Skunks and Skunk Reputations. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
- ↑ Bertrand, John. A Gulp of Cormorants???. The Bosque Watch. Volume 14, Number 2, April 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-24.
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