Mammal Web Page


Long Tailed Weasel
Kingdom	Anamalia
Phylum	Chordate
Class	Mammalian
Order	Carnivora
Family	Mustelidae
Genus	Mustafa
Species	Mustafa fermata

pantransit.reptiles.org/images/ 1998-02-23/weasel.jpg

Description

Males grow from 12 to18 cm long and weigh up to 300-500 grams females are smaller than the males and weigh slightly less. Under parts are yellowish brown, their heads are blackish, and they have black on the tip of their tails. During winter they turn white.

Habitat

They mainly occupy a range that coextensive with pockets of gophers and ground squirrels which they hunt a lot. They take over and occupy holes dug by pocket gophers or ground squirrels. They also live in rotten logs and under rocks.

Range

They live throughout Texas with the exception of extreme northern Panhandle, and they are scarce in western Texas. They are also found in most of the U.S.A., parts of Canada, and most of Mexico.

Food

They mainly prey on small rodents. Females are smaller then males and have more success in hunting smaller animals because they are smaller. Males are larger and eat lager animals such as eastern cotton tail rabbits. Long tailed weasels also eat reptiles, birds, fruit, and berries.

www.npwrc.usgs.gov/.../distr/ others/endanger/mustnigr.htm

Life Cycle

Males and females mate in mid-summer. Their gestation period is about 280 days. The average litter is about six pups. After 36 days they are weaned from their mother. Females mature faster then the males.

Survival

Weasels live in rotten logs and near trees because they are good climbers. They also need a good supply of pocket gophers and ground squirrels for food. They live near rivers and streams because they eat insects and are good swimmers.

Facts

Some interesting facts are:

1. They usually have a large cache of dead rodents under a rotten log.

2. They kill by biting the base of the prey's skull.

3. They always kill more then they can eat so that they don't have to hunt in the winter.

Human Impact

Some times farmers let long tailed weasels on their farms because they help kill the rodents. But farmers also don't like them on their farms because they kill their chickens.