Weasels

As cute, furry and cuddly weasels appear to be, the said “cute factor” of weasels is one which isn’t well understood by many, given the fact that weasels are actually ferocious hunters who don’t easily back down from a fight.

Buck, a weasel character from the 2009 animated feature Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, was made under this weasel-fact pretext, characterizing Buck as a hunter whose main “target” was something 10 times larger than him – a dinosaur.

Though real life weasels don’t typically pick prey larger than them, the weasel’s ferocity for confronting animals larger than them when they meet is well known, along with their capacity to be tenacious in getting what they want.

A part of the Mustelidae family, weasels are closely related to minks, badgers, otters and ferrets. With various weasels sporting varied coat colors and patterns, their size is generally small, with long slender bodies, short legs and round-shaped ears being the typical physical characteristics of weasels.

Divided into two major categories, the long tailed and short tailed variety of weasels can be found in different parts of the world, excluding Antarctica and Australia.

One interesting thing about weasels is their ability to change coat colors in tune with the seasons. During winter, their coats bear a faded white hue, which readily allows them to blend with winter’s surroundings. When summer comes, the coat colors of weasels transform into a brownish hue, in tune with summer’s colors.

Weasels do not hibernate, which means that they are active all year long. They are nocturnal creatures too, and though they are small in size, weasels are actually very fast, an attribute which allows them to easily pounce on targets once they are within pouncing range.

Once heavily hunted for their pelts, weasels are a protected mammal species, whose cute appearances and ferocious attitudes have made them one of the most fascinating creatures anyone could ever get to encounter.

 Weasels Video