Weasel
Weasel | |
---|---|
Clockwise from top left: Least weasel, stoat, European polecat, black-footed ferret, ferret and steppe polecat | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Family: | Mustelidae |
Subfamily: | Mustelinae |
Genus: | Mustela Linnaeus, 1758 |
Type species | |
Mustela erminea | |
Species | |
| |
Mustela range |
Weasels /ˈwiːzəlz/ 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 bodies and short legs. The family Mustelidae, or mustelids (which also includes badgers, otters, and wolverines), is often referred to as the "weasel family". In the UK, the term "weasel" usually refers to the smallest species, the least weasel (M. nivalis),[1] the smallest carnivoran species.[2]
Least weasels vary in length from 173 to 217 mm (6+3⁄4 to 8+1⁄2 in),
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 and South America, and small areas in North Africa.
Terminology
The English word "weasel" was originally applied to one species of the genus, the European form of the least weasel (Mustela nivalis). This usage is retained in British English, 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,[* 1] the polecats, the ferret, and the European mink.[4]: 12
The
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.[4]: 3
Species
The following information is according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System and MammalDiversity.
Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|
Mustela altaica Pallas, 1811 | Mountain weasel | Northern and Southern Asia
| |
Mustela lutreolina Robinson and Thomas, 1917 | Indonesian mountain weasel | Southern Asia | |
Mustela erminea Linnaeus, 1758 | Stoat, Beringian ermine, Eurasian ermine, or short-tailed weasel |
Europe and Northern Asia Arctic Canada and Alaska (United States) Southern Asia (non-native) New Zealand (non-native) | |
Mustela nivalis Linnaeus, 1766 | Least weasel | Europe, North Africa and Northern Asia North America Southern Asia (non-native) New Zealand (non-native) | |
Mustela aistoodonnivalis Wu & Kao, 1991 | Missing-toothed pygmy weasel |
Shaanxi and Sichuan, China | |
Mustela richardsonii Bonaparte, 1838 | American ermine | Most of North America south of Alaska and the Arctic Circle; eastern Nunavut and Baffin Island | |
Mustela haidarum Preble, 1898 | Haida ermine | Haida Gwaii (British Columbia, Canada) and Alexander Archipelago (Alaska, United States) | |
Mustela eversmanii (Lesson, 1827) | Steppe polecat | Southeast Europe and Northern Asia Southern Asia | |
Mustela furo Linnaeus, 1758 | Domestic ferret | Domestic
Worldwide (domesticated); New Zealand (non-native) | |
Mustela putorius Linnaeus, 1758 | European polecat | Europe, North Africa and Northern Asia | |
Mustela itatsi Temminck, 1844 | Japanese weasel | Japan and formerly Sakhalin Island, Russia | |
Mustela sibirica Pallas, 1773 | Siberian weasel | Europe and Northern Asia Southern Asia | |
Mustela kathiah Hodgson, 1835 | Yellow-bellied weasel | Southern Asia | |
Mustela lutreola (Linnaeus, 1761) | European mink | Europe | |
Mustela nigripes (Audubon and Bachman, 1851) | Black-footed ferret | North America | |
Mustela nudipes Desmarest, 1822 | Malayan weasel | Southern Asia | |
Mustela strigidorsa Gray, 1855 | Back-striped weasel | Southern Asia |
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[7] and consequently delights in destroying wedding dresses.[8] In Macedonia, however, weasels are generally seen as an omen of good fortune.[7][8]
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.[9]: 255
In Montagne Noire (France), Ruthenia, and the early medieval culture of the Wends, weasels were not meant to be killed.[9]
According to
Japanese superstitions
In Japan, weasels (鼬、鼬鼠, itachi) were seen as yōkai (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.[11]
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 are considered weasels in disguise, and they are also said to shapeshift into ōnyūdō and little monks.[11]
In the collection of depictions, the
In Japanese, weasels are called iizuna or izuna (飯綱) and in the
According to the folklorist Mutō Tetsujō, "They are called izuna in the Senboku District,[* 2] Akita Prefecture, and there are also the ichiko (itako) that use them."[16] Also, in the Kitaakita District, they are called mōsuke (猛助), and they are feared as yōkai even more than foxes (kitsune).[16]
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.[17]
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 kamae Tachi (構え太刀, "stance sword"), so were not originally related to weasels at all.[18]
See also
Notes
- Eurasian ermine or stoat); M. haidarum, (the Haida ermine); and M. richardsonii, (the American ermine).
- ^ However, in the Senboku District, especially in Obonai village (生保内村), they are called okojo.[16]
References
- ISBN 978-0199206872.
- S2CID 235312150.
- ^ a b "The Weasel". The Mammal Society. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-804113-9.
- ^ Abramov, A.V. 1999. A taxonomic review of the genus Mustela (Mammalia, Carnivora). Zoosystematica Rossica, 8(2): 357-364
- S2CID 236299740.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-107-67703-6.
- ^ a b Abbott, George Frederick (1903). Macedonian folklore. Cambridge UP. pp. 108–109. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
- ^ JSTOR 1253113.
- ^ Hazlitt, William Carew; Brand, John (1905). Faiths and folklore: a dictionary of national beliefs, superstitions and popular customs, past and current, with their classical and foreign analogues, described and illustrated. Reeves and Turner. p. 622. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-4-6203-1428-0。
- ISBN 978-4-336-03386-4。
- ISBN 978-4-05-602048-9。
- ISBN 978-4-88317-283-2。
- ^ 『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
- ^ a b c 武藤, 鉄城 (1940), "秋田郡邑魚譚", アチックミユーゼアム彙報, 45: 41–42,
北秋田ではモウスケと称して狐より怖がられ、仙北地方ではイヅナと称し、それを使う巫女(エチコ)もある。学名コエゾイタチを、此の付近..〔生保内村〕では..オコジョと云ふ(田口耕之助氏)
。 - )
- ISBN 978-4-7959-1955-6.
Further reading
- Nowak, Ronald M., and Ernest P. Walker. Walker's Carnivores of the World. Baltimore: ISBN 0-8018-8032-7.
- C. Hart Merriam, Synopsis of the Weasels of North America, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1896.
- Angier, Natalie (13 June 2016). "Weasels Are Built for the Hunt". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 June 2016.