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Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels,
polecat Polecat is a common name for several mustelid species in the order Carnivora and subfamilies Ictonychinae and Mustelinae. Polecats do not form a single taxonomic rank (i.e. clade). The name is applied to several species with broad similarities t ...
s, stoats,
ferret The ferret (''Mustela furo'') is a small, domesticated species belonging to the family Mustelidae. The ferret is most likely a domesticated form of the wild European polecat (''Mustela putorius''), evidenced by their interfertility. Other must ...
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 Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by ...
s,
otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes we ...
s, and
wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscul ...
s), is often referred to as the "weasel family". In the UK, the term "weasel" usually refers to the smallest
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
, the least weasel (''M. nivalis''), the smallest
carnivora Carnivora is a monophyletic order of placental mammals consisting of the most recent common ancestor of all cat-like and dog-like animals, and all descendants of that ancestor. Members of this group are formally referred to as carnivorans, ...
n species. Least 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. Their range spans Europe, North America, much of
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
and South America, and small areas in North Africa.


Terminology

The English word "weasel" was originally applied to one
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
of the genus, the European form of the least weasel (''Mustela nivalis''). This usage is retained in
British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly ...
, 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, or to the genus as a whole. 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, the
polecat Polecat is a common name for several mustelid species in the order Carnivora and subfamilies Ictonychinae and Mustelinae. Polecats do not form a single taxonomic rank (i.e. clade). The name is applied to several species with broad similarities t ...
s, the
ferret The ferret (''Mustela furo'') is a small, domesticated species belonging to the family Mustelidae. The ferret is most likely a domesticated form of the wild European polecat (''Mustela putorius''), evidenced by their interfertility. Other must ...
, and the European mink. The
American mink The American mink (''Neogale vison'') is a semiaquatic species of mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe, Asia and South America. Because of range expansion, the American mink ...
and the extinct
sea mink The sea mink (''Neogale macrodon'') is a recently extinct species of mink that lived on the eastern coast of North America around the Gulf of Maine on the New England seaboard. It was most closely related to the American mink (''Neogale vison ...
were commonly included in this genus as ''Mustela vison'' and ''Mustela macrodon'', respectively, but in 1999 they were moved to the genus ''
Neovison ''Neogale'' is a genus of mustelid native to the Americas, ranging from Alaska south to Bolivia. Members of this genus are known as New World weasels. Taxonomy Members in this genus were formerly classified into the genera '' Mustela'' and '' ...
''. In 2021, both ''Neovison'' species, along with the long-tailed weasel (''Mustela frenata''),
Amazon weasel The Amazon weasel (''Neogale africana''), also known as the tropical weasel, is a species of weasel native to South America. It was first identified from a museum specimen mislabelled as coming from Africa, hence the scientific name. Taxonomy ...
(''Mustela africana'') and
Colombian weasel The Colombian weasel (''Neogale felipei''), also known as Don Felipe's weasel, is a very rare species of weasel only known with certainty from the departments of Huila and Cauca in Colombia and nearby northern Ecuador (where it is only known fr ...
(''Mustela felipei'') were moved to the genus ''
Neogale ''Neogale'' is a genus of mustelid native to the Americas, ranging from Alaska south to Bolivia. Members of this genus are known as New World weasels. Taxonomy Members in this genus were formerly classified into the genera '' Mustela'' and '' ...
'', as the clade containing these 5 species was found to be fully distinct from ''Mustela''.


Species

The following information is according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System and MammalDiversity. 1 Europe and Northern Asia division excludes China.


Cultural meanings

Weasels have been assigned a variety of cultural meanings. In
Greek culture The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, beginning in Minoan and later in Mycenaean Greece, continuing most notably into Classical Greece, while influencing the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire. Other cultu ...
, 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 and consequently delights in destroying wedding dresses. In Macedonia, however, weasels are generally seen as an omen of good fortune. In 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. In
Montagne Noire The Montagne Noire ( oc, Montanha Negra, known as the 'Black Mountain' in English) is a mountain range in central southern France. It is located at the southwestern end of the Massif Central at the juncture of the Tarn, Hérault and Aude depart ...
(France), Ruthenia, and the early medieval culture of the Wends, weasels were not meant to be killed. According to Daniel Defoe also, meeting a weasel is a bad omen. In English-speaking areas, weasel can be an insult, noun or verb, for someone regarded as sneaky, conniving or untrustworthy. Similarly, "
weasel words A weasel word, or anonymous authority, is an informal term for words and phrases aimed at creating an impression that something specific and meaningful has been said, when in fact only a vague or ambiguous claim has been communicated. Examples ...
" is a critical term for words or phrasing that are vague, misleading or equivocal.


Japanese superstitions

In Japan, were seen as ''
yōkai are a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore. The word is composed of the kanji for "attractive; calamity" and "apparition; mystery; suspicious." are also referred to as , or . Despite often being translated as suc ...
'' (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.村上健司編著 『妖怪事典』 毎日新聞社、2000年、36頁。。 They are also said to shapeshift like the fox ('' kitsune'') or '' tanuki'', and the '' nyūdō-bōzu'' told about in legends in the Tōhoku region and the
Chūbu region The , Central region, or is a region in the middle of Honshū, Japan's main island. In a wide, classical definition, it encompasses nine prefectures (''ken''): Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka, Toyama, and Yam ...
are considered weasels in disguise, and they are also said to shapeshift into '' ōnyūdō'' and little monks. In the collection of depictions, the ''
Gazu Hyakki Yagyō is the first book of Japanese artist Toriyama Sekien's famous ''Gazu Hyakki Yagyō'' e-hon tetralogy, published in 1776. A version of the tetralogy translated and annotated in English was published in 2016. Although the title translates to "The I ...
'' by
Sekien Toriyama 200px, A Mikoshi-nyūdō, specifically a Miage-nyūdō, as portrayed by Toriyama">Miage-nyūdō.html" ;"title="Mikoshi-nyūdō, specifically a Miage-nyūdō">Mikoshi-nyūdō, specifically a Miage-nyūdō, as portrayed by Toriyama , real name Sano ...
, they were depicted under the title 鼬, but they were read not as "''itachi''", but rather as " ''ten''", and "ten" were considered to be weasels that have reached one hundred years of age and became yōkai that possessed supernatural powers. Another theory is that when weasels reach several hundred years of age, they become ''
mujina is an old Japanese term primarily referring to the Japanese badger, but traditionally to the Japanese raccoon dog (''tanuki''), causing confusion. Adding to the confusion, it may also refer to the introduced masked palm civet, and in some regi ...
'' (
Japanese badger The Japanese badger (''Meles anakuma'') is a species of carnivoran of the family Mustelidae, the weasels and their kin. Endemic to Japan, it is found on Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Shōdoshima. It shares the genus '' Meles'' with its close rel ...
s). In Japanese weasels are called and in the Tōhoku Region and Shinshu, it was believed that there were families that were able to use a certain practice to freely use ''
kudagitsune The , also pronounced ''kanko'', is a type of spirit possession in legends around various parts of Japan. It may be known otherwise as '' osaki'' especially in the Kantō region, and also considered equivalent to the ''izuna''. It was believed t ...
'' as ''iizuna-tsukai'' or ''kitsune-mochi''. It is said that
Mount Iizuna , also written as 飯綱山 (Iizuna-yama), is a mountain located ten kilometers north-northwest of the heart of Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The mountain straddles the city of Nagano and Iizuna town in Kamiminochi District, Nagano. Togeth ...
, from the Nagano Prefecture, got its name due to how the gods gave people mastery of this technique from there.『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 According to the folkloristician Mutō Tetsujō, "They are called ''izuna'' in the Senboku District,
Akita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its geographic area is 11,6 ...
, and there are also the ichiko (
itako , also known as or , are blind women who train to become spiritual mediums in Japan. Training involves severe ascetic practices, after which the woman is said to be able to communicate with Japanese Shinto spirits, ''kami'', and the spirits of ...
) that use them." Also, in the Kitaakita District, they are called'' mōsuke'' (猛助), and they are feared as ''yōkai'' even more than foxes ('' kitsune''). In the
Ainu language Ainu (, ), or more precisely Hokkaido Ainu, is a language spoken by a few elderly members of the Ainu people on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is a member of the Ainu language family, itself considered a language family isolate ...
, 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.


''Kamaitachi''

''
Kamaitachi is a Japanese yōkai often told about in the Kōshin'etsu region and can also refer to the strange events that this creature causes. They appear riding on dust devils and they cut people using the nails on both their hands that are like sickl ...
'' 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 , so were not originally related to weasels at all.


See also

*


Notes


References


Further reading

* Nowak, Ronald M., and Ernest P. Walker. ''Walker's Carnivores of the World''. Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press The Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publ ...
, 2005. , .
C. Hart Merriam, ''Synopsis of the Weasels of North America'', Washington, Government Printing Office, 1896
*


External links

* * * {{Authority control Mammals of Asia Mammals of Europe Mammals of North America Mammals of South America Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Yōkai