Weasel
| Weasel | |
|---|---|
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| Least Weasel | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Suborder: | Caniformia |
| Family: | Mustelidae |
| Subfamily: | Mustelinae |
| Genus: | Mustela Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Species | |
|
erinea africana |
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| Mustela range | |
Weasels (
/ˈwiːzəl/) are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs.
Weasels vary in length from 12 to 45 centimetres (5 to 18 in), and usually have a red or brown upper coat and a white belly; some populations of some species moult to a wholly white coat in winter. They have long slender bodies, which enable them to follow their prey into burrows. Their tails may be from 22 to 33 centimetres (9 to 13 in) long. Weasels have a reputation for cleverness and guile.
Weasels feed on small mammals, and have from time to time been considered vermin since some species took poultry from farms, or rabbits from commercial warrens. Weasels occur all across the world except for Antarctica, Australia, and neighbouring islands.
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[edit] Terminology
The English word "weasel" was originally applied to one species of the genus, the European form of the Least Weasel (Mustela nivalis). This usage is retained in British English, where the name is also extended to cover several other small species of the genus. It is thought that the name "weasel" comes from the Anglo-Saxon root "weatsop" meaning "a vicious bloodthirsty animal". However, in technical discourse and in American usage the term "weasel" can refer to any member of the genus, or to the genus as a whole. Of the 17 extant species currently classified in the genus Mustela, ten have "weasel" in their common name. Among those that do not are the stoat or ermine, the polecats, the ferret, and the European Mink (the superficially similar American Mink is now regarded as belonging in another genus, Neovison).
[edit] Species
The following information is according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
| Mustela africana | Desmarest, 1800 | Tropical weasel | South America |
| Mustela altaica | Pallas, 1811 | Mountain weasel | Europe & Northern Asia Southern Asia |
| Mustela erminea | Linnaeus, 1758 | Stoat Ermine Short-tailed weasel |
Europe & Northern Asia North America Southern Asia (non-native) New Zealand (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 itatsi | Temminck, 1844 | Japanese weasel | Japan & Sakhalin Is. (Russia) |
| 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 nigripes | (Audubon and Bachman, 1851) | Black-footed ferret | North America |
| Mustela nivalis | Linnaeus, 1766 | Least weasel | Europe & Northern Asia North America Southern Asia (non-native) New Zealand (non-native) |
| Mustela nudipes | Desmarest, 1822 | Malayan weasel | Southern Asia |
| Mustela putorius | Linnaeus, 1758 | European polecat Domesticated Ferret (ssp. furo) |
Europe & Northern Asia New Zealand (ssp. furo) (non-native) |
| Mustela sibirica | Pallas, 1773 | Siberian weasel | Europe & Northern Asia Southern Asia |
| Mustela strigidorsa | Gray, 1855 | Back-striped weasel | Southern Asia |
| Mustela subpalmata | Hemprich and Ehrenberg, 1833 | Egyptian weasel | Egypt |
1 Europe & Northern Asia division excludes China.
The extinct "Sea mink" was commonly included in this genus as Mustela macrodon, but in 1999 was moved to the genus Neovison.[1]
[edit] Cultural meanings
Weasels carry with them a variety of different, sometimes contradictory, cultural meanings. In Greek culture, for instance, a weasel around the house is a sign of bad luck, even evil, "especially if there is in the household a girl about to be married" since the animal (based on its Greek etymology) was thought to be an unhappy bride who was transformed into a weasel[2] and consequently delights in destroying wedding dresses.[3] In neighboring Macedonia, however, weasels are generally seen as an omen of good fortune.[2][3]
In North America, native Americans deemed the weasel to be a bad sign; crossing its path meant a "speedy death."[4] According to Daniel Defoe also, meeting a weasel is a "bad omen."[5]
In early modern Mecklenburg, Germany, amulets from weasels were deemed to have strong magic; the period between August 15 and September 8 was specifically designated for the killing of weasels. In Montagne Noire (France), Ruthenia (Eastern Europe), and in the early medieval culture of the Wends weasels were not to be killed at all.[6]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- ^ a b Lawson, John Cuthbert (2012). Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion: A Study in Survivals. Cambridge UP. pp. 327–28. ISBN 9781107677036. http://books.google.com/books?id=D6ghAB1AJR8C&pg=PA327. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
- ^ a b Abbott, George Frederick (1903). Macedonian folklore. Cambridge UP. pp. 108–109. http://books.google.com/books?id=pokWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA109. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
- ^ Brown, Frank C.; Hand, Wayland D. (1977). Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore: Popular Beliefs and Superstitions from North Carolina. Duke UP. p. 56. ISBN 9780822302599. http://books.google.com/books?id=Oudc1sjV6cgC&pg=PA56. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
- ^ Hazlitt, William Carew; Brand, John (1905). Faiths and folklore: a dictionary of national beliefs, superstitions and popular customs, past and current, with their classical and foreign analogues, described and illustrated. Reeves and Turner. p. 622. http://books.google.com/books?id=K-4gAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA622. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
- ^ Thomas, N.W. (September 1900). "Animal Supterstitions and Totemism". Folk-lore 11: 228–67. http://books.google.com/books?id=5n0ZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA255.
[edit] References
- "Mustela". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180552. Retrieved 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.
- C. Hart Merriam, Synopsis of the Weasels of North America, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1896.
[edit] External links
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