The Malayan weasel (''Mustela nudipes'') or Malay weasel is a

weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender b ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of 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 appropriate s ...

native to the Malay Peninsula and the islands of Sumatra and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

. It is listed as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

Description

The Malayan weasel is reddish-brown to grayish-white. Its head is lighter in colour than the rest of the body. The distal half of the

tail The tail is the section at the rear end of certain kinds of animals’ bodies; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage to the torso. It is the part of the body that corresponds roughly to the sacrum and coccyx in mammal ...

is pale orange to white. The soles of the feet are naked. It has a body length of with a long tail.

Distribution and habitat

The Malayan weasel is native to the Malay Peninsula from southern Thailand to peninsula Malaysia, and Sumatra and

. It is generally associated with tropical lowland forest, but has been recorded in habitats ranging from swamp and

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

s to plantations and high elevation montane scrub up to . A better understanding of habitat preferences would require surveys specifically aimed at the Malayan weasel because it is rarely detected by general camera trap, road mortality, and visual surveys. In Borneo, it was photographed in primary

dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = f ...

and logged forest at elevations of .

Ecology and behavior

The Malayan weasel is very poorly known, but assumed to occur at low densities and behave elusively based on low detection rates. It is a ground-living species and its morphology not suited to climbing. Their diet is unknown but assumed to be similar to other small weasels: mostly carnivorous, including small rodents, birds, eggs, and small reptiles. Most records of the species occurred during the day, but more research is needed to determine whether Malayan weasels are also active nocturnally. The majority of sightings have been of single animals, suggesting a solitary nature as seen in most

species of genus ''Mustela''. Not much is known about its breeding habits, but a litter of four has been recorded.

Taxonomy

There are two subspecies of the Malayan weasel: * ''M. n.nudipes'' * ''M. n. leucocephalus''

Relationship with humans

Records of Malayan weasels in highly degraded forests, plantations, and even suburban areas suggest that the species is tolerant of humans. Malayan weasels are sometimes killed by villagers for medicinal use, food, trophy, fur, for killing chickens, and incidental by-catch in snares. Regardless, in some areas they are seen positively and allowed in villages as a predator of crop-raiding rats. The wide range of the species across various habitats and tolerance of humans suggests resilience to local habitat conversion. Though overall numbers are stable, Malayan weasels are protected in peninsular Malaysia and Thailand due to local declines.

References

Weasels Mammals described in 1822 Carnivorans of Malaysia Mammals of Brunei Fauna of Sumatra Mammals of Borneo Mammals of Indonesia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{carnivora-stub