Weasels () are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs.
Weasels vary in length from , and usually have a red or brown upper coat and a white belly; 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 have a reputation for cleverness and guile.
Weasels feed on small mammals, and have from time to time been considered vermin since some species took poultry from farms, or rabbits from commercial warrens. Weasels occur all across the world except for Antarctica, Australia, and neighbouring islands.
Collective nouns for a group of weasels include boogle, gang, pack, sneak and confusion.
1 Europe & Northern Asia division excludes China.
The extinct "Sea mink" was commonly included in this genus as Mustela macrodon, but in 1999 was moved to the genus Neovison.
Weasels, ferrets and stoats were the enemies of Toad of Toad Hall in the popular children's classic The Wind in the Willows.
The weasel is said to be the patronus charm of book and movie character Arthur Weasley in JK Rowling's series "Harry Potter".
Category:Fauna of Southeast Asia Category:Mammals of Asia Category:Mammals of Europe Category:Mammals of North America Category:Mustelinae
ar:ابن عرس an:Mustela ay:Achuqalla az:Gəlincik (heyvan) bo:ཟེ་མོ་སེར་པོ། br:Mustela ca:Mustela cs:Mustela de:Mustela nv:Dlǫ́ʼii es:Mustela eo:Musteloj eu:Mustela fa:راسو (سرده) fr:Mustela gl:Mustela ko:족제비속 hr:Lasice it:Mustela kk:Күзендер la:Mustela lv:Sermuļi lt:Šeškai ms:Weasel nl:Kleine marters ja:イタチ oc:Mustela pl:Mustela pt:Mustela ro:Mustela qu:Achuqalla ru:Хорьки sco:Whitrat stq:Mustela simple:Weasel fi:Kärpät (suku) sv:Mustela tl:Mustela th:เพียงพอน tr:Gelincik (memeli) uk:Mustela vi:Chi Chồn zh:鼬屬This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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