This mustelid is a Siberian weasel (Mustela sibirica). Its range includes a huge chunk of Eurasia, and it is called the Siberian weasel because Westerners knew the species from Russian specimens. However, its vast range goes from European Russia all the way to Taiwan.
Its fur is marketed as “kolinsky sable,” and if you buy a brush that is said to come from a kolinsky sable, you are actually purchasing a brush tipped in the winter fur of this animal. In Russian, the animal’s name is “kolonok,” but it is easier for us to say Siberian weasel, even if its range is much more extensive than Siberia.
Although it looks very similar to the steppe polecat, it is not the same thing. The two species share a range, but the steppe polecat is darker. The Siberian weasel is always this apricot color.
It’s a very attractive color for a weasel, and it sort of reminds me of some races of the long-tailed weasel. In the Southwestern US, the long-tailed weasels are masked. In my area, the local variant of the long-tailed weasel is unmasked, and it turns white in the winter.
When I saw a video of the Siberian weasel, I was much more reminded of the long-tailed weasel than any species of ferret or polecat. Here’s a playful Siberian weasel versus a pet ferret:
These animals are widely bred on fur farms, so my guess is that they are probably not far from being available on the pet market. I doubt that they are as domesticated as ferrets are.
However, the movement is so similar to the long-tailed weasel that I can’t help but be intrigued by this species.
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Of course, I am a bit biased here, for my the weasel family has always fascinated me. They are as intelligent as dogs and cats, yet most of them are quite tiny in comparison.
Indeed, they have so fascinated me that I have the body of a long-tailed weasel in my freezer. It was shot in late October– just when its fur was turning from brown to white. I wanted to have it taxidermied, but I never got around to it.
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The Chinese have the coolest name for the Siberian weasel.
It is huang shu lang, which means “yellow rat wolf.”
What a name!
[…] It is a Siberian weasel. […]
why would you should a weasel?
The person who shot it thought I might be interested in seeing what it was.
And I was.
Not lying.
neither of the extended rough-interactions looked like *Play* to me – in the first, the poor ferret was pilo-erected from nose to tip of tail, and seemed highly-intimidated.
the ice-gray adult ferret with the smaller / darker kolonok, presumably a pup or pre-teen, was less-obviously defensive, but still did not look all that joyful to be supposedly
*playing* —
there was none of the obvious turn + turn about, or role reversal, seen in good play; the ferret was always IT, the kolonok was always the pursuer.
i have had ferrets, and thought they were delightful in their own way, but would never think them as smart as a cat, let alone as intelligently capable of independent partnership as a dog;
and my ferrets were not solitary, nor living in an outdoor hutch; they were indoor-pets, i had a a pair at one time, and a trio another time. (all desexed)
all 3 out at one time always gave the impression of at least 5 animals in the room, maybe more, LOL –
they are so agile and quick (when not *fat* – which IMO the 2nd ferret, the ice-gray one, was).
interesting species – but to my eye, much-more aggressive than a domestic-ferret; i;d want 15 to 20 generations selected for human-sociability, before introducing them as The New Pet-Species.
domestic-ferrets bite often enuf! ;-)
cheers,
— terry
terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
I don’t know enough of this species’ play motor patterns to make a judgment on whether it was play or aggression. For a domest ferret, it probably would be. It may be a communication problem. Dogs and coyotes are closely related, but dogs don’t have the same body language as coyotes. Dogs don’t do the open mouthed threat gape that coyotes use.
American mink are known for their intelligence. There was study that found that American mink were easier to train than cats or skunks. They remembered behaviors much longer, and they learned the behaviors more quickly than either cats or skunks.
So maybe domestic ferrets aren’t that bright, but the mustelid family does have some “intellect.”
I know that sea otters use tools. There may be some evidence that this is genetic, but they still have to learn how to use the stones to bash open the shellfish correctly.
In the old days, ferrets were used around granaries, and my grandpa used to take his ferret out on very cold winter days and hunt rabbits (illegally). Cottontails will go to ground with the temperature drops into the 20’s for a couple of days. Unlike European rabbits, they don’t dig dens. They merely move into groundhog holes.
The ferret would bolt the rabbits, and they could be dispatched with a karate chop to the back of the head as they came out of the hole.