MOUNTAIN WEASEL
DESCRIPTION: The Mountain or Pale or Altai
Weasel is perhaps the commonest weasel of India. Like most mustelids, it has a
flat, narrow skull, a long, cylindrical body, short, close-set ears and short
legs. The head is short and the dentition, being suited to a predatory diet, has
fewer molars than the martens have. It is larger than the stoat but smaller
than the Siberian Weasel. It undergoes two moults during spring and autumn and,
therefore, has two colour phases; brownish above and creamy yellow below in the
winters, and slightly more grey in its dorsal fur in the summers. Its head can
be slightly greyer than the body. Its lips and cheek have small white patches,
and its paws are conspicuously white. Its long, spindly tail, which is 40 per
cent of the head and body, is the same colour as its back. This characteristic
easily distinguishes it from the other white-pawed mustelid, the Stoat, which
has a black tip to its tail. Sexes are approximately the same size. The number
of mammae seems to be variable between two and four.
BEHAVIOUR: It does not hibernate, but
winters in deep holes in the ground.
DISTRIBUTION: The Himalayas from Jammu
& Kashmir to Sikkim.
HABITAT: Alpine meadows, temperate and evergreen forests.
Size: 22–28 cm
IUCN Status: Near Threatened
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