Weasel in its winter, “ermine” coat — always looking for something to kill.
Photo: USFWS
This weasel probably senses something to eat.
Photo: MDIFW
A Weasel by Any Other Name is Just as Hungry
By Kevin McKeon, Maine Master Naturalist
Wintertime woods and trail walking offers opportunities to slow down and appreciate the quiet of the season, with lower human traffic from the sometimes-challenging snow, ice, and cold. Walkers embracing these conditions are rewarded with nature revealing to them the presence of the various winter-active critters that share our natural home. The calls of distant crows, ravens, and pileated woodpeckers remind us that some birds willingly accept winter’s food- and shelter-finding challenges, and the occasional “snow angel” print of an owl or hawk on a fresh blanket of snow reveals the food provided from an unfortunate scurrying mouse. The prints of deer, squirrels, mice, porcupines, and other winter critters foraging their habitats offer us winter walkers a perspective of nature’s activities occurring surprisingly close to our homes and trails.
And where there are mice, voles, and squirrels, there are usually weasels.
There are two critters commonly called weasels living around here, but there’s often a bit of a concern as to what exactly a weasel is. Mustelidae — Latin for weasel — is the taxonomic family comprising weasels; it seems that any critter that looks like a weasel and eats the flesh of other animals is placed into this family. There are more than 70 species of Mustelidae worldwide. Several live in Maine, including otters, mink, fishers, martens, and the two “named” weasels: long-tailed (Mustela frenata) and short-tailed (Mustela erminea) weasels. These critter-hunters are the smallest of Maine’s Mustelidae, at only 6 ounces for the short-tailed and 13 ounces for the long-tailed.
Even though you may be lucky enough to see one, differentiating between the species would be a challenge. As their respective names imply, the difference is in their tails. The long-tailed’s tail is about half as long as its body, and the short-tailed’s is about a third of its body. Their size difference – 12 to 14 inches, compared to 7 to 13 inches, head-to-tail — overlaps, so it’s next to impossible to nail down when offered only a fleeting glance at these scurrying critters. Both species molt from brown to white for winter camouflage, and white to brown in summer, and both have black-tipped tails in summer and winter. Most folks also call these small predators ermine, but the name more commonly refers to the short-tailed weasel.
Yet another weasel is the least weasel (Mustela nivalis), which shares the same northern habitat, but documentation of its existence around here hasn’t been reliably noted. If you happen to spot a weasel with its winter white coat that doesn’t have a black-tipped tail, you’ve seen this rare-to-our-area species— the smallest of our weasels, at only about 3 ounces.
Weasels are very active creatures with high metabolisms, needing about 30% of their body weight of food every day, and their predation capabilities are fearsome; they can take down rabbits that are 10 times their size! Their usual wintertime prey include any small mammal like mice, voles, and shrews, for which they often hunt in the tunnels of the subnivean zone. After snowmelt, carrion, turkey chicks, and eggs of any kind are quickly gobbled up. Summer’s diet includes insects, birds, snakes, amphibians — really, just about anything that moves! Sometimes an observant snow-walker along our trails will spot a set of tracks of a weasel following a mouse. (Get a tracking chart here.)
But to keep things in balance, there are also a lot of critters that hunt weasels. Large birds of prey like hawks, owls, and eagles will grab one, as will foxes, coyotes, bobcats, and even dogs and cats. The weasels’ larger cousins like martens, fishers, and minks prey on them, as do some larger snakes. Great care needs to be used by these weasel hunters because weasels can inflict damage during their fight for survival, and even though they might lose the battle, serious wounds may result in shorter lives for their attackers.
Breeding in mid-summer, weasels use a tactic called delayed implantation to time fertilization so that births happen during a time of food plenty the following spring. Once fertilized, the four to eight kits are born after about a month in a state called altricial — blind, deaf, wrinkled, almost hairless, and totally dependent on their parents. After about a month, their eyes open; after about two months, they’re on their own. They will usually live for less than a year, though some weasels have lived for six years in captivity.
A somewhat cynically themed story attributed to the Greek storyteller Aesop called “The Weasel and Aphrodite” (also called “Venus and the Cat”) is an attempt to explain and understand the struggle between the powers of nature versus love:
Weasel looked upon a handsome young man with adoration and wished to be with him, so she begged the goddess Aphrodite to change her to a woman. Sensing insincerity, the goddess was hesitant; but Weasel’s incessant begging led her to reluctantly do so. During the wedding night, Aphrodite wanted to ensure the proper thing was done, so the Weasel/bride was tested by the release of a mouse in the bedroom. Strong was the instinct within Weasel’s Nature, so up from the bed did the bride leap to catch and eat the mouse! Aphrodite, thus angered, transformed the bride back to Weasel and its natural self.
The Greek word weasel translates to “little bride,” and the idiom “the wedding dress does not fit the bride” relates to nature winning over love, also meaning a disingenuous position or situation, or an obvious mismatch.
Subnivean zone: https://sanfordspringvalenews.com/out-in-the-woods-22/
Animal tracks: https://www.maine.gov/ifw/docs/MDIFW-Animal-Tracking-Card-color.pdf
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