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Weasel Facts

Weasel Facts
The weasel is a mammal from the Mustelidae family. It falls in the same genus as polecats, ferrets, minks, and stoats. Weasels are small mammals, and looks like cute fury animals, but are in fact bloodthirsty and able to eat their own body weight each day, after killing their prey. They are also known to be capable of carrying animals as much as ten times their own size. They have no problem saving leftovers to eat later, especially in colder climates. Weasels are small, varying in length between 6.8 and 8.5 inches, with long, slim bodies. The weasel's tail ranges between 1.3 and 2 inches in length.
Interesting Weasel Facts:
Weasels have long slender bodies and short legs. They have a long neck and tiny ears.
Weasels can spray a horrible smelling fluid that stinks as bad as a skunk spray. Their spray is thick, yellow, and oily.
Weasels will sometimes do a crazy dance that researchers believe may hypnotize its prey so that it is temporarily off guard.
Weasels can be found in Britain, Western Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa, North America, Asia, and New Zealand.
Weasels live in sand dunes, lowland forests, grassy regions, in small towns, and in other regions provided there is food.
Weasels tend to make their homes in tree stumps or holes and create nests of leaves and grass.
Weasels eat a variety of other animals including rabbits, mice, voles, birds, frogs, and rats. They will also raid birds' nests and eat both the young and the eggs.
Weasels have been known to land on the back of a bird and go for a quick flight before killing the bird as prey.
Weasels kill their prey by biting the back of its neck.
Weasels have been known to travel as far as 2.5 km to hunt for food.
When weasels breed each year, between April and August, they produce litters of four to six babies.
Weasel babies are able to hunt and kill for their food when they reach between five and eight weeks of age.
Weasels in captivity can live as long as ten years but in the wild they tend to only live to be three years or so.
Threats to the weasel include habitat loss, hunting, being hit by vehicles, and being poisoned. They are considered vermin by farmers because they prey on chickens and game birds, as well as their eggs.
While most predators are too large to enter the dens where their prey live, the weasel, with its long body can enter its prey's burrow and kill it. Weasels will often take over the dwelling after killing its owner.
Animals and other predators that hunt and kill weasels include cats, dogs, snakes, and owls.
Weasels have been known to attack a human if it becomes scared or threatened.
Weasels eat mice, which often carry diseases, so they can be helpful to farmers. When they eat the chickens and eggs however the farmers are not happy.
The weasel and stoat are almost identical but the stoat has a black-tipped tail.


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