View source for Weasel

{{Short description|Mammal of the mustelid family}}
{{about|the animal}}
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{automatic taxobox
 | image = Mustela nivalis -British Wildlife Centre-4.jpg
 | image_caption = [[Least weasel]] in England
| taxon = Mustela
| authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| type_species = ''[[Stoat|Mustela erminea]]''
| type_species_authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = {{Plainlist|
* ''[[Missing-toothed pygmy weasel|Mustela aistoodonnivalis]]'' 
* ''[[Mountain weasel|Mustela altaica]]'' 
* ''[[Stoat|Mustela erminea]]''
* ''[[Steppe polecat|Mustela eversmannii]]''
* {{Extinct}}''[[Mustela fenata]]''
* ''[[Domestic ferret|Mustela furo]]''
* ''[[Haida ermine|Mustela haidarum]]''
* ''[[Japanese weasel|Mustela itatsi]]''
* {{Extinct}}''[[Mustela jacksoni]]''
* ''[[Yellow-bellied weasel|Mustela kathiah]]''
* ''[[European mink|Mustela lutreola]]''
* ''[[Indonesian mountain weasel|Mustela lutreolina]]''
* {{Extinct}}''[[Mustela meltoni]]''
* ''[[Black-footed ferret|Mustela nigripes]]''
* ''[[Least weasel|Mustela nivalis]]''
* ''[[Malayan weasel|Mustela nudipes]]''
* {{Extinct}}''[[Mustela ogygia]]''
* {{Extinct}}''[[Mustela pachygnatha]]''
* {{Extinct}}''[[Mustela palaeattica]]''
* {{Extinct}}''[[Mustela palermina]]''
* {{Extinct}}''[[Mustela plioerminea]]''
* {{Extinct}}''[[Mustela praenivalis]]''
* ''[[European polecat|Mustela putorius]]''
* {{Extinct}}''[[Mustela rexroadensis]]''
* ''[[American ermine|Mustela richardsonii]]''
* ''[[Siberian weasel|Mustela sibirica]]''
* {{Extinct}}''[[Mustela spelaea]]''
* ''[[Back-striped weasel|Mustela strigidorsa]]''
* ''[[Tonkin weasel|Mustela tonkinensis]]''
}}
| range_map = Mustela range.png
| range_map_caption = Combined ''Mustela'' and ''[[Neogale]]'' ranges
}}

'''Weasels''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|iː|z|əl|z}} are [[mammal]]s of the [[genus]] '''''Mustela''''' of the [[family (biology)|family]] [[Mustelidae]]. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the [[least weasel]]s, [[polecat]]s, [[stoat]]s, [[ferret]]s, and [[European mink]]. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bodies and short legs. The family Mustelidae, or mustelids (which also includes [[badger]]s, [[otter]]s, and [[wolverine]]s), is often referred to as the "weasel family". In Great Britain, the term "weasel" usually refers to the smallest [[species]], the [[least weasel]] (''M.&nbsp;nivalis''),<ref name=SOED>{{cite book|title=Shorter Oxford English dictionary|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-0199206872|pages=3804}}</ref> the smallest [[carnivora]]n species.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Valkenburgh|first1=Blaire Van|last2=Wayne|first2=Robert K.|date=2010-11-09|title=Carnivores|journal=Current Biology|volume=20|issue=21|pages=R915–R919|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2010.09.013|pmid=21056828|s2cid=235312150|issn=0960-9822|doi-access=free|bibcode=2010CBio...20.R915V }}</ref>

Least weasels vary in length from {{convert|173|to|217|mm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}},<ref name="WeaselSize">{{cite web|url=http://www.mammal.org.uk/species-hub/full-species-hub/full-species-hub-list/species-weasel/|title=The Weasel|publisher=The Mammal Society|access-date=11 April 2017|archive-date=12 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412061518/http://www.mammal.org.uk/species-hub/full-species-hub/full-species-hub-list/species-weasel/|url-status=dead}}</ref> females being smaller than the males, and usually have red or brown upper coats and white bellies; 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 {{convert|34|to|52|mm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} long.<ref name="WeaselSize" />

Weasels feed on small mammals and have from time to time been considered [[vermin]] because some species took [[poultry]] from farms or [[rabbit]]s from commercial warrens. They do, on the other hand, eat large numbers of [[rodent]]s. Their range spans [[Europe]], [[North America]], much of [[Asia]], and small areas in [[North Africa]].

==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. However, in technical discourse and in American usage, the term "weasel" can refer to any member of the genus, the genus as a whole, and even to members of the related genus ''[[Neogale]]''. Of the 16 extant species currently classified in the genus ''Mustela'', 10 have "weasel" in their common names. Among those that do not are the three species of ermine,{{refn|group="*"|These three species are ''Mustela erminea'', (the  [[Eurasian ermine]] or stoat); ''M. haidarum'', (the [[Haida ermine]]); and ''M. richardsonii'', (the [[American ermine]]).}} the [[polecat]]s, the [[ferret]], and the [[European mink]].<ref name="NHoWaS"/>{{rp|12}}

The [[American mink]] and the extinct [[sea mink]] were commonly included in this genus as ''Mustela vison'' and ''Mustela macrodon'', respectively, but in 1999 they were moved to the genus ''[[Neovison]]''.<ref>Abramov, A.V. 1999. A taxonomic review of the genus ''Mustela'' (Mammalia, Carnivora). ''Zoosystematica Rossica'', '''8'''(2): 357-364</ref> In 2021, both ''Neovison'' species, along with the [[long-tailed weasel]] (''Mustela frenata''), [[Amazon weasel]] (''Mustela africana'') and [[Colombian weasel]] (''Mustela felipei'') were moved to the genus ''[[Neogale]]'', as the clade containing these five species was found to be fully distinct from ''Mustela''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Patterson|first1=Bruce D.|last2=Ramírez-Chaves|first2=Héctor E.|last3=Vilela|first3=Júlio F.|last4=Soares|first4=André E. R.|last5=Grewe|first5=Felix|year=2021|title=On the nomenclature of the American clade of weasels (Carnivora: Mustelidae)|journal=Journal of Animal Diversity|volume=3|issue=2|pages=1–8 |doi=10.52547/JAD.2021.3.2.1|s2cid=236299740 |issn=2676-685X|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Taxonomy ===
The genus name ''Mustela'' comes from the Latin word for weasel combining the words ''mus'' meaning "mouse" and ''telum'' meaning "javelin" for its long body.<ref name="NHoWaS">{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Carolyn M. |last2=Powell |first2=Roger A. |title=The Natural History of Weasels and Stoats: Ecology, Behavior, and Management |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-804113-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ae9c7GO_cUC |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|3}}

==Species==
The following information is according to the [[Integrated Taxonomic Information System]] and [[American Society of Mammalogists|MammalDiversity]].
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Subgenus
! Image !! Scientific name !! Common name !! Distribution
|-
| rowspan="7" |''Mustela''
|[[File:Mountain Weasel (Mustela altaica).jpg|120px]] ||''Mustela altaica'' {{small|Pallas, 1811}}   || [[Mountain weasel]] ||[[Northern Asia|Northern]] and [[South Asia|Southern Asia]]
|- 
| ||''Mustela aistoodonnivalis'' {{small|Wu & Kao, 1991}}  || [[Missing-toothed pygmy weasel]] || [[Shaanxi]] and [[Sichuan]], [[China]]
|-
|[[File:Mustela erminea upright2.jpg|120px]] ||''Mustela erminea'' {{small|Linnaeus, 1758}}  || [[Stoat]], Beringian ermine, Eurasian ermine, or<br />short-tailed weasel || Europe and Northern Asia<br />Arctic [[Canada]] and [[Alaska]] (United States)<br />Southern Asia (non-native)<br />New Zealand (non-native)
|-
|[[File:Haida Ermine (Mustela haidarum).jpg|frameless|121x121px]]
|''Mustela haidarum'' <small>Preble, 1898</small>
|[[Haida ermine]]
|[[Haida Gwaii]] ([[British Columbia]], Canada) and [[Alexander Archipelago]] (Alaska, United States)
|-
|[[File:Yellow bellied weasel, Shillong, India.jpg|120px]] ||''Mustela kathiah'' {{small|Hodgson, 1835}}  || [[Yellow-bellied weasel]] || Southern Asia
|- 
|[[File:Mustela_nivalis_-British_Wildlife_Centre-4.jpg|120px]] ||''Mustela nivalis'' {{small|Linnaeus, 1766}}  || [[Least weasel]] || Europe, [[Barbary Coast|North Africa]] and Northern Asia <br />North America<br />Southern Asia (non-native)<br />New Zealand (non-native)
|-
|[[File:Ermine- Bacon Fiend (14083889879).jpg|frameless|124x124px]]
|''Mustela richardsonii'' <small>Bonaparte, 1838</small> 
|[[American ermine]]
|Most of North America south of Alaska and the Arctic Circle; eastern Nunavut and Baffin Island
|-
| rowspan="6" |''Lutreola''
|[[File:Mustela itatsi on tree.JPG|120px]] ||''Mustela itatsi'' {{small|Temminck, 1844}}  || [[Japanese weasel]] ||Japan and formerly [[Sakhalin|Sakhalin Island]], Russia
|-
|[[File:Mink1.jpg|120px]] ||''Mustela lutreola'' {{small|(Linnaeus, 1761)}}  || [[European mink]] || Europe
|- 
| ||''Mustela lutreolina'' {{small|Robinson and Thomas, 1917}}  || [[Indonesian mountain weasel]] || Southeastern Asia
|-
| ||''Mustela nudipes'' {{small|Desmarest, 1822}}  || [[Malayan weasel]]|| Southeastern Asia
|-  
|[[File:Siberian Weasel Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary East Sikkim India 14.05.2016.jpg|120px]] ||''Mustela sibirica'' {{small|Pallas, 1773}}  || [[Siberian weasel]] || Europe and Northern Asia<br />Southern Asia
|-
|[[File:Mustela strigidorsa.gif|120px]] ||''Mustela strigidorsa'' {{small|Gray, 1855}}  || [[Back-striped weasel]] || Southern Asia
|-
| rowspan="4" |''[[Putorius]]''
|[[File:Wild steppe polecat.jpg|120px]] ||''Mustela eversmanii'' {{small|(Lesson, 1827)}}  || [[Steppe polecat]] || Southeast Europe and Northern Asia<br />Southern Asia
|-
|[[File:Ferret 2008.png|frameless|120x120px]]
|''Mustela furo'' <small>Linnaeus, 1758</small>
|[[Ferret|Domestic ferret]]
|Domestic
Worldwide (domesticated); New Zealand (non-native)
|- 
|[[File:Polecat in denmark.jpg|120px]] ||''Mustela putorius'' {{small|Linnaeus, 1758}}  || [[European polecat]]|| Europe, [[Atlas Mountains|North Africa]] and Northern Asia
|-
|[[File:Mustela nigripes 2.jpg|120px]] ||''Mustela nigripes'' {{small|(Audubon and Bachman, 1851)}}  ||[[Black-footed ferret]] || North America
|}
<sup>1</sup> Europe and Northern Asia division excludes China.

==Cultural meanings==
{{main|Cultural depictions of weasels}}
Weasels have been assigned a variety of cultural meanings.

In [[Culture of Greece|Greek culture]], a weasel near one's 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<ref name=lawson>{{cite book|last=Lawson|first=John Cuthbert|title=Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion: A Study in Survivals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6ghAB1AJR8C&pg=PA327|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge UP|isbn=978-1-107-67703-6|pages=327–28}}</ref> and consequently delights in destroying wedding dresses.<ref name=abbott/> In  [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], however, weasels are generally seen as an omen of good fortune.<ref name=lawson/><ref name=abbott>{{cite book|last=Abbott|first=George Frederick|title=Macedonian folklore|url=https://archive.org/details/macedonianfolklo00abborich|access-date=13 February 2012|year=1903|publisher=Cambridge UP|pages=[https://archive.org/details/macedonianfolklo00abborich/page/108 108]–109}}</ref>

In [[Early modern Europe|early-modern]] [[Mecklenburg]], Germany, amulets from weasels were deemed to have strong magic; the period between 15 August and 8 September was specifically designated for the killing of weasels.<ref name=Thomas1900/>{{rp|255}}

In [[Montagne Noire]] (France), [[Ruthenia]], and the [[Early Middle Ages|early medieval]] culture of the [[Wends]], weasels were not meant to be killed.<ref name=Thomas1900>{{cite journal|last=Thomas|first=N.W.|date=September 1900|title=Animal Superstitions and Totemism|journal=[[Folklore Society|Folk-lore]]|volume=11|issue=3|pages=228–67|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1900.9719953|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1810352|jstor=1253113}}</ref>

According to [[Daniel Defoe]] also, meeting a weasel is a bad omen.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hazlitt|first1=William Carew|last2=Brand|first2=John|title=Faiths and folklore: a dictionary of national beliefs, superstitions and popular customs, past and current, with their classical and foreign analogues, described and illustrated|url=https://archive.org/details/faithsandfolklo00hazlgoog|access-date=13 February 2012|year=1905|publisher=Reeves and Turner|page=[https://archive.org/details/faithsandfolklo00hazlgoog/page/n296 622]}}</ref> In English-speaking areas, weasel can be an insult, noun or verb, for someone regarded as sneaky, conniving or untrustworthy. Similarly, "[[weasel words]]" is a critical term for words or phrasing that are vague, misleading or equivocal.

===Japanese superstitions===
[[File:Ten-Japanese-Marten-from-Gazu-Hyakki-Yagyo-by-Sekien.png|right|thumb|180px|"Ten" from the [[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō]] by [[Sekien Toriyama]]]]
[[File:Mustela sibirica201602-02.jpg|180px|thumb|Japanese weasel]]

In Japan, {{nihongo|weasels|鼬、鼬鼠|itachi}} were seen as ''[[yōkai]]'' (causing strange occurrences). According to the encyclopedia ''[[Wakan Sansai Zue]]'' from the [[Edo period]], a pack of weasels would cause conflagrations, and the cry of a weasel was considered a harbinger of misfortune. In the [[Niigata Prefecture]], the sound of a pack of weasels making a rustle resembled six people hulling rice, so was called the "weasel's six-person mortar", and it was an omen for one's home to decline or flourish. It is said that when people chase after this sound, the sound stops.<ref name="yokaijiten">村上健司編著 『妖怪事典』 毎日新聞社、2000年、36頁。{{ISBN|978-4-6203-1428-0}}。</ref>

They are also said to shapeshift like the fox (''[[kitsune]]'') or ''[[Japanese raccoon dog|tanuki]]'', and the ''[[nyūdō-bōzu]]'' told about in legends in the [[Tōhoku region]] and the [[Chūbu region]] are considered weasels in disguise, and they are also said to shapeshift into ''[[ōnyūdō]]'' and little monks.<ref name="yokaijiten" />

In the collection of depictions ''[[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō]]'' by [[Sekien Toriyama]], they were depicted under the title 鼬, but they were read not as "''itachi''", but rather as "[[Japanese marten|''ten'']]",<ref>高田衛監修 稲田篤信・田中直日編 『鳥山石燕 画図百鬼夜行』 国書刊行会、1992年、50頁。{{ISBN|978-4-336-03386-4}}。</ref> and "ten" were considered to be weasels that have reached one hundred years of age and became yōkai that possessed supernatural powers.<ref>少年社・中村友紀夫・武田えり子編 『妖怪の本 異界の闇に蠢く百鬼夜行の伝説』 学習研究社〈New sight mook〉、1999年、123頁。{{ISBN|978-4-05-602048-9}}。</ref> Another theory is that when weasels reach several hundred years of age, they become ''[[mujina]]'' ([[Japanese badger]]s).<ref>草野巧 『幻想動物事典』 新紀元社、1997年、30頁。{{ISBN|978-4-88317-283-2}}。</ref>

In Japanese, weasels are called {{Nihongo|''iizuna'' or ''izuna''|飯綱}} and in the [[Tōhoku Region]] and [[Shinano Province|Shinshu]], it was believed that there were families that were able to use a certain practice to freely use ''[[kudagitsune]]'' as ''iizuna-tsukai'' or ''kitsune-mochi''. It is said that [[Mount Iizuna]], from the [[Nagano Prefecture]], got its name due to how the gods gave people mastery of this technique from there.<ref name="koj2">『広辞苑 第4版』(1991年)、岩波書店「いづなつかい【飯綱使・飯縄遣】」の項</ref>

According to the [[folklore studies|folklorist]] [[Mutō Tetsujō]], "They are called ''izuna'' in the [[Senboku District, Akita|Senboku District]],{{refn|group="*"|However, in the Senboku District, especially in {{nihongo|Obonai village|生保内村}}, they are called ''okojo''.<ref name="muto-042"/>}} [[Akita Prefecture]], and there are also the ichiko ([[itako]]) that use them."<ref name="muto-042">{{citation|last=武藤|first=鉄城|title=秋田郡邑魚譚|journal=アチックミユーゼアム彙報|volume=45|year=1940|url=http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1461537/189|pages=41–42|quote=北秋田ではモウスケと称して狐より怖がられ、仙北地方ではイヅナと称し、それを使う巫女(エチコ)もある。学名コエゾイタチを、此の付近..〔生保内村〕では..オコジョと云ふ(田口耕之助氏)}}。</ref> Also, in the [[Kitaakita District, Akita|Kitaakita District]], they are called'' mōsuke'' (猛助), and they are feared as ''yōkai'' even more than foxes (''[[kitsune]]'').<ref name="muto-042"/>

In the [[Ainu language]], ermines are called ''upas-čironnup'' or ''sáčiri'', but since least weasels are also called ''sáčiri'', [[Mashio Chiri]] surmised that the honorary title ''poy-sáčiri-kamuy'' (where ''poy'' means "small") refers to least weasels.<ref>{{citation|last=知里|first=真志保 (Chiri, Mashiho)|title=アイヌ語獣名集 (On the names of the mammals of the Ainu language)|journal=北海道大學文學部紀要 = The Annual Reports on Cultural Science|date=30 March 1959|url=http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/33244/1/7_PL150-121.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/33244/1/7_PL150-121.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|issn=0437-6668|page=141}}</ref>

====''Kamaitachi''====
{{Main|Kamaitachi}}

''[[Kamaitachi]]'' is a phenomenon wherein one who is idle is suddenly injured as if his or her skin were cut by a scythe. In the past, this was thought to be "the deed of an invisible ''yōkai'' weasel". An alternate theory, asserts that ''kamaitachi'' is derived from {{Nihongo|''kamae Tachi''|構え太刀||"stance sword"}}, so were not originally related to weasels at all.<ref name="shokoku">{{Cite book|author=人文社編集部|title=諸国怪談奇談集成 江戸諸国百物語 東日本編|year=2005|publisher=人文社|series=ものしりシリーズ|isbn=978-4-7959-1955-6|page=104}}</ref>

== See also ==
* {{portal-inline|Mammals}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=*}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Nowak, Ronald M., and Ernest P. Walker. ''Walker's Carnivores of the World''. Baltimore: [[Johns Hopkins University Press]], 2005. {{ISBN|0-8018-8033-5}}, {{ISBN|0-8018-8032-7}}.
* [https://archive.org/stream/synopsisofweasel00merriala/synopsisofweasel00merriala_djvu.txt C. Hart Merriam, ''Synopsis of the Weasels of North America'', Washington, Government Printing Office, 1896].
* {{cite news | first=Natalie | last=Angier | title=Weasels Are Built for the Hunt | work=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/science/weasels-are-built-for-the-hunt.html | date=13 June 2016 | access-date=15 June 2016}}

==External links==
* {{Wiktionary-inline|weasel}}
* {{Commons category-inline|Mustela}}
* {{Wikispecies-inline|Mustela}}

{{Weasels}}
{{Carnivora|M.}}
{{Musteloidea|Mae.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q28521}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Weasels| ]]
[[Category:Carnivorans of Asia]]
[[Category:Carnivorans of Europe]]
[[Category:Carnivorans of North America]]
[[Category:Carnivorans of South America]]
[[Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]
[[Category:Yōkai]]