www.badgerland.co.uk
Pictures and Photographs of Badgers in the UK
Home Shop Animals Pictures Help Seeing Groups Education News Search Books
Badger photos Nature Photos Online Videos Art Engineering Book covers DVD covers Video covers
 

Weasels

Badgerland online shop

Stoats and Weasels are both related to the badger. Weasels are quite a lot smaller than a Stoat.

The weasel (Mustela nivalis) is the smallest member of the Mustelidae (as well as the smallest of the Carnivora), native to Eurasia, North America and North Africa. Despite its small size, the least weasel is a fierce hunter, capable of killing a rabbit 5-10 times its own weight.

The weasel has a thin, greatly elongated and extremely flexible body with a small, yet elongated, blunt-muzzled head which is no thicker than the neck. The eyes are large, bulging and dark coloured. The legs and tail are relatively short, the latter constituting less than half its body length. The feet are armed with sharp, dark claws, and the soles are heavily haired. The skull is, overall, similar to that of the Stoat, but smaller, though the skulls of large male weasels tend to overlap in size with those of small female Stoats. The weasel has scent glands under the tail, which it uses to produce a musky smell. The smell and chemical composition of these chemicals are distinct from those of the Stoat. The weasel moves by jumping, the distance between the tracks of the fore and hind limbs being 18–35 cm.

Average body length in males is 130–260 mm, while females average 115–205 mm. The tail measures 12–90 mm in males and 17–60 mm in females. Males weigh 36-250 grams, while females weigh 30-117 grams.

The winter fur is dense, but short and closely fitting. In northern subspecies, the fur is soft and silky. The summer fur is very short, sparser and rougher. The upper parts in the summer fur are dark, but vary geographically from dark-tawny or dark-chocolate to light pale tawny or sandy. The lower parts, including the lower jaw and inner sides of the legs, are white. The dividing line between the dark upper and light lower parts is straight, but sometimes forms an irregular line.