The Weasel of Snow

Least weasels are native to Montana but extremely rare, that is why I was so surprised when I saw one. It was a Friday afternoon at Maclay Flat. I was looking for owl pellets and Dottie was looking for the Barred owl. We were at the owl pellet tree when Mom yelled “weasel!”. True to her word there was the weasel. Of course, Dottie started clicking her camera. I realized right then and there that the Least Weasel was the most adorable animal in the world. When we saw the weasel it was pure white in a environment of brown and black

Once we got home I did some studying and thought it was the least weasel, but we didn’t have a photo of its tail, or its size. So we went back and got a few photos of its white tail and how tall it was. Comparing the least weasel to its larger cousins the short tailed weasel and the long tailed weasel can be challenging. You will need several tools (1) a ruler to measure, because its cousins are bigger. The least weasel is 8 inches (2) a good photo of its tail to see if it has a black or white tip while its larger cousins have white tip tails.

Once Dottie put the picture of the least weasel onto a naturalist website everybody started arguing because least weasels are so rare. Some people thought that it was a short tailed weasel with its tail bitten off. Other people thought its tail wasn’t visible. The discussion is still going on and many people are still debating.

Here are a few facts: Weasels feed on mice and rabbits. Weasel predators are: other weasels, Hawks, owls, and mink. They’re observed mostly in July and are native to the Western Hemisphere. Weasels are also the smallest carnivore in the whole world. In many myths weasels are known to suck blood from their prey, but that is not true.