Weasels are

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s of the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Mustela'' of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Mustelidae The Mustelidae (; from Latin , weasel) are a diverse family of carnivora, carnivoran mammals, including weasels, badgers, otters, polecats, martens, grisons, and wolverines. Otherwise known as mustelids (), they form the largest family in the s ...

. 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 bodies and short legs. The family Mustelidae, or mustelids (which also includes badgers,

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

s, and

wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...

s), is often referred to as the "weasel family". In the UK, the term "weasel" usually refers to the smallest

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, the least weasel (''M. nivalis''), the smallest carnivoran 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 Vermin (colloquially varmint(s) or varmit(s)) are pests or nuisance animals that spread diseases and destroy crops, livestock, and property. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included vary by regi ...

because some species took

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, Eggs as food, eggs or feathers. The practice of animal husbandry, raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typ ...

from farms or rabbits from commercial warrens. They do, on the other hand, eat large numbers of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

s. Their range spans

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North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, much of

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, and small areas in

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Terminology

The English word "weasel" was originally applied to one

of the

, the European form of the least weasel (''Mustela nivalis''). This usage is retained in

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

, 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, the polecats, the ferret, and the European mink. 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''. 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''.

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.

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, 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 (France), Ruthenia, and the

early medieval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Middle Ages of Europ ...

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" is a critical term for words or phrasing that are vague, misleading or equivocal.

Japanese superstitions

Ten-Japanese-Marten-from-Gazu-Hyakki-Yagyo-by-Sekien

In Japan, were seen as '' yōkai'' (causing strange occurrences). According to the encyclopedia ''

Wakan Sansai Zue The is an illustrated Japanese ''leishu'' encyclopedia published in 1712 in the Edo period. It consists of 105 volumes in 81 books. Its compiler was Terashima or Terajima Ryōan, Terajima (), a doctor from Osaka. It describes and illustrates va ...

'' from the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, 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 The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

and the Chūbu region are considered weasels in disguise, and they are also said to shapeshift into '' ōnyūdō'' and little monks. 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 " ''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'' ( Japanese badgers). In Japanese, weasels are called and in the

Tōhoku Region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

and 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 is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,007,682 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata 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 folklorist Mutō Tetsujō, "They are called ''izuna'' in the Senboku District, Akita Prefecture, and there are also the ichiko ( itako) 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, 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 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.

Notes

References

External links

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