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Skulls of a long-tailed weasel (top), a stoat (bottom left) and least weasel (bottom right), as illustrated in Merriam's Synopsis of the Weasels of North America. The long-tailed weasel is the product of a process begun 5–7 million years ago, when northern forests were replaced by open grassland, thus prompting an explosive evolution of small, burrowing rodents.
Unprovoked attacks on humans are extremely rare, but fishers will attack if they feel threatened or cornered. In one case, a fisher was blamed for an attack on a six-year-old boy. [66] [67] In another case, a fisher is believed to be responsible for an attack on a 12-year-old boy. [68]
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]
The sea otter, which has the densest fur of any animal, [15] narrowly escaped the fate of the sea mink. The discovery of large populations in the North Pacific was the major economic driving force behind Russian expansion into Kamchatka , the Aleutian Islands , and Alaska , as well as a cause for conflict with Japan and foreign hunters in the ...
Megalictis (meaning "great weasel") is an extinct genus of large predatory mustelids that existed in North America during the "cat gap" from the Late Arikareean (Ar4) in the Miocene epoch. It is thought to have resembled a huge, jaguar-sized ferret, weighing up to 60–100 kilograms (130–220 lb). [1]
The least weasel is the product of a process begun 5–7 million years ago, when northern forests were replaced by open grassland, thus prompting an explosive evolution of small, burrowing rodents. The weasel's ancestors were larger than the current form, and underwent a reduction in size to exploit the new food source.
Mustelidae is a family of mammals in the order Carnivora, which includes weasels, badgers, otters, ferrets, martens, minks, and wolverines, and many other extant and extinct genera. A member of this family is called a mustelid; Mustelidae is the largest family in Carnivora, and its extant species are divided into eight subfamilies .
Mustelinae is a subfamily of family Mustelidae, including weasels, ferrets, and minks. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] It was formerly defined in a paraphyletic manner to also include wolverines , martens , and many other mustelids, to the exclusion of the otters ( Lutrinae ).