Weasel
Scientific name Common Name Distribution
Mustela africana Desmarest , 1800 Amazon weasel South America
Mustela altaica Pallas , 1811 Mountain weasel Europe and Northern Asia Southern Asia
Mustela erminea Linnaeus , 1758 Stoat or Short-tailed weasel Europe and Northern Asia North America Southern Asia ( non-native ) New Zealand ( non-native )
Mustela eversmannii Lesson , 1827 Steppe polecat Europe and Northern Asia Southern Asia
Mustela felipei Izor and de la Torre , 1978 Colombian weasel South America
Mustela frenata Lichtenstein , 1831 Long-tailed weasel North America South America
Mustela itatsi Temminck , 1844 Japanese weasel Japan and Sakhalin Island ( Russia )
Mustela kathiah Hodgson , 1835 Yellow-bellied weasel Southern Asia
Mustela lutreola ( Linnaeus , 1761 ) European mink Europe
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 and 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 / Domestic ferret ( ssp . furo ) Europe and Northern Asia New Zealand ( ssp . furo ; non-native )
Mustela sibirica Pallas , 1773 Siberian weasel Europe and Northern Asia Southern Asia
Mustela strigidorsa Gray , 1855 Back-striped weasel Southern Asia
Mustela subpalmata Hemprich & Ehrenberg , 1833 Egyptian weasel Northern Egypt
Species
The following information is according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System .
A weasel is a mammal of the genus Mustela of the family Mustelidae. The genus Mustela includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets, and mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bodies and short legs. The family Mustelidae (which also includes badgers, otters, and wolverines) is often referred to as the weasel family. In the UK, the term weasel usually refers to the smallest species, the least weasel (M. nivalis). Weasels vary in length from , 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 long. Weasels feed on small mammals and have from time to time been considered vermin because some species took poultry from farms or rabbits from commercial warrens. They do, on the other hand, eat large numbers of rodents. They can be found all across the world except for Australia, Antarctica, and the neighbouring islands.