How a weasel spends the winter. What does a weasel or white marten look like in the photo. Description and photo of the animal

There are many animals that fit the name “living mercury”. Long, nimble, incredibly agile, and even covered with silky fur - these animals often make you want to get to know each other better. There are among mustelid representative named weasel. Let's look at the photo to see what it looks like, find out where it lives, why it's called that, and whether you can enjoy communicating with the furry rogue at home.

Portrait of a predator against a background of nature

There is no one smaller than a weasel in the Predatory squad. Males can grow up to 26 cm in length and gain weight up to 250 g. The animal’s body is elongated, and its legs are disproportionately short, like those of a dachshund. However, in agility it surpasses not only a dachshund, but even a cat. Moving rapidly in short jumps, the predator easily and often changes direction of movement. Not even a lizard can escape her.

For full description type should be added:

• in summer, brown short fur on the head and back, dazzling white on the throat, chest and belly;
• winter fur is thicker and completely white;
• elongated head;
• short rounded ears;
• anal glands with a strong-smelling secretion.

The weasel is sometimes confused with the ermine. They are really similar, but the ermine has a black tassel on its tail, the same one that makes the lining of the royal robe look like it is streaked with stripes.

Attention! Wild weasels can carry rabies - you should not come into contact with them.

Legendary and elusive

Weasels live throughout Europe, Russia, Canada, in the northern states of the USA and a little in Africa - not far from the Strait of Gibraltar. It is not a rare animal, but it is difficult to meet, much less catch, it. Incredibly agile, she will climb into any narrow crevice, hole, under snags, and walk over stones, windfalls and dead wood.

The predator feeds on any animals comparable in size: mice, voles, shrews, rats, snakes, frogs, and if it doesn’t find anything similar, then insects. The animal is attracted to farms where it can snack on chicken or baby rabbit.

The weasel loves to hunt in the stables: there are many mouse nests in the hay and bedding. In the old days, in the mornings, peasants often found their horses lathered, tired, with tangled manes - as if they had been galloping all night. They thought that it was the “stable brother” who was playing mischief and riding on horseback, but it turned out that it was a weasel. The predator easily jumps onto the horse’s back to feast on grains of salt where the sweat has dried. At the same time, he sometimes bites through the withers and licks drops of blood.

Why was this aggressive, quirky animal nicknamed weasel? The ancient Slavs revered him as the patron of the house - he is secretive, but does not leave his home. Many nations have a legend according to which a kind daughter-in-law, undeservedly cursed by her mother-in-law, turned into a kindness.

Weasel in the house: comfort or disaster

IN Ancient Rome assessed the predator’s ability to exterminate mice and welcomed it into homes. But very soon the ruthless rodent fighters were replaced by more flexible cats. Unlike the Romans, modern lovers of unusual pets get a weasel to enjoy its indomitable energy.

The condition under which an animal can become a cute pet is taming it “from a young age.” If taken into the home from two months and older, the weasel will remain wild, aggressive, unpredictable, will bite and sooner or later will run away.

For a guest you will need a large cage, preferably a high enclosure with a floor area of ​​at least square meter. The floor of the enclosure is covered with straw or hay. Inside are placed:

• cat litter box with wood filler (there is a chance that the pet will learn to use it);
• stable feeder and nipple drinker;

• wooden house for shelter;
• shelves and driftwood for climbing.

Attention! The weasel will fit anywhere, so the bars of the enclosure should be quite dense.

The weasel's diet includes meat, poultry, fish, eggs - everything that the animal gets in nature. Ready-made food for cats and dogs is absolutely not suitable, as are treats from the table.

The weasel enjoys bathing in the bath and takes care of its fur itself. Sheds in spring and autumn, changing bicolor to white and vice versa. At this time, the animal can be stroked with a damp hand to remove any stray hairs.

Nimble and fearless, not at all gentle, in nature this predator devotes all its time to hunting. By diligently exterminating breeding rodents, it has been helping other animals maintain balance in food chains for millions of years.

Pet weasel: video

Weasel is an animal (photos of the animal are presented in this article) with a flexible, thin and elongated body. She has an oblong head and small round ears. This is the smallest representative of the species. Its body length is no more than 25 cm, of which about 5 cm is on the tail, and at its base there are glands that secrete an unpleasant-smelling liquid. The weasel animal in the summer is dressed in brownish-brown fur with a white neck, belly and chest. In winter, she dresses in a pure white outfit.

Mostly the weasel leads night image life, but if she does not see danger for herself, then she can hunt during the day. She runs, swims, jumps and climbs trees perfectly, but her main strength lies in her ability to climb through the narrowest holes and crevices. For example, she easily chases mice into their own holes. This mammal also feeds on all kinds of birds, their eggs and chicks, as well as lizards, snails, various insects, frogs and fish. The weasel animal even hunts vipers, copperheads and grass snakes. And if its main diet is reduced for some reason, then the weasel attacks animals larger than itself. These can be rats, hamsters, young hares and rabbits, gophers, hazel grouse, partridges and black grouse.

The weasel animal lives under piles of stones, in tree hollows, and in ruins. Sometimes it can settle in or under washed-out shores. IN winter time it is attracted to warmer places: attics and sheds of rural buildings, and it can also be found on the outskirts of the city. From May to June, the female gives birth to 5 to 7 cubs. This happens in a place hidden from prying eyes, which is necessarily covered with hay, leaves or straw. The mother is very kind to her babies. She for a long time feeds them milk, and then brings them live mice for several more months. But if her children are disturbed, she will immediately move them to another place.

And now the grown cubs begin to leave the nest. Their mischievous and cheerful faces alternately appear from it and inspect the area. If everything is calm around, then the kids come out one after another, playing games on the green grass. The animal weasel has a lot natural enemies- these are all mammalian predators that are larger in size, and

IN natural environment In its habitat, the weasel lives 8-10 years, but in captivity its lifespan does not exceed 6 years. Adults tolerate the loss of freedom very hard, so for taming you need to take a young animal that is still with its mother. In this case, the weasel quickly gets used to its owner and becomes the most gentle animal that lives up to its name. But for rural residents it is almost the most fierce enemy, as it also exterminates rabbits. In the old days, to send her out, on barnyard they brought a goat. For this purpose, the oldest was chosen. In 2-3 days small predator left his favorite place.

You can also get rid of the uninvited “tenant” with the help of wind turbines. The fact is that all underground animals react very sensitively to an earthquake, and the slightest vibrations transmitted through the pole into the ground force moles, rats, shrews and mice to leave their shelters. Weasel is no exception. The animal (many people are interested in how to catch it) can be caught using a device such as a scoop, and sparrows are used for bait. Although many gardeners, beekeepers and hunters catch this animal specifically in the wild in order to release it into their undergrounds, cellars or barns to exterminate mice and rats.

The length of the weasel's body is small - from 10 to 24 cm, weight from 50 to 100 g. You can meet the animal in North America, Northern Asia, Europe. The weasel has settled well in fields, lowlands, mountains and forest areas. As a rule, it settles in hollows located not too high from the surface of the earth, in rubble and burrows. Weasel is a fairly frequent visitor settlements. It is there that the animal has the opportunity to profit from something tasty.

The lower neck, chest and belly of the weasel are painted snow-white. At the same time, the upper body is brown-chocolate in color. The fur of this predator is thick and short. Long, thin toes are located on the short legs of the weasel. It is worth noting that this predator has very sharp claws. The tail is short. The head is elongated and gradually sharpens towards the nose. Rounded ears, small nose, dark large eyes. The neck is very muscular and wide. Weasels have excellently developed senses of smell, hearing and vision.

In nature, each individual has its own territory. Often it reaches up to 10 hectares. The predator leads an exclusively solitary lifestyle. In search of food, it can run about 2 km per day. He is an excellent swimmer and is not afraid of water. The weasel is an excellent tree climber. In a word, cunning, smart, aggressive, daring and resourceful. It is active both during the day and at night. It prefers hunting mostly in the dark. Moves mainly by jumping.

Small animals are afraid of weasel, especially chicks, moles, rats and mice. She also eats bird eggs. By the way, this is the main food of weasels. Often, a predator can feast on snakes, lizards or frogs. Despite its courage and daring nature, weasels have quite a lot of enemies in nature - birds of prey, sables, wolves and foxes.

Increasingly, weasels are kept as pets. It is worth remembering that the seemingly sweet and gentle creature has a rather tough and daring character.

How to keep a weasel at home

Today it is quite difficult to surprise with exotic pets. It even happened that a lion or crocodile acted as a pet in the apartment. Weasel is an animal that is now almost forgotten. Although not so long ago this particular animal was quite widespread in the homes of Europeans. Weasels were assigned the same functions as cats are now. This animal was excellent at catching rats and mice.

When it comes to food, the weasel is not particularly whimsical. With dexterity he can take the neighbor's dog's lunch. The weasel adapts perfectly to home maintenance. But you won’t be able to get a faithful and devoted pet without difficulty and quickly. You will have to work hard for this, because it is a very biting and nervous animal. It is advisable to take a weasel into the house as a small cub. But in in this case There may be problems with feeding. At this age they are extremely demanding. That is why, in most cases, animals are taken from the wild as adults. Please note: eggs, clean water and high-quality fresh meat should always be in the weasel's diet.

The weasel has a thin, highly elongated body with very short legs. The neck is long and quite powerful for such a small animal - only slightly thinner than the body, bears a narrow (no thicker than the neck) head with a small, blunt muzzle and short ears that practically do not protrude upward. The eyes are large, dark, slightly protruding, short rounded ears are widely spaced. The tail is very short, in the smallest weasels it does not exceed the length of the foot. The hairline is short, not luxuriant, close-lying. The body length of males varies between 13-26 cm, weight 40-250 g, females are a full third smaller. The color of the body in summer is two-color: the upperparts are dark, in different geographical races the predominant tone varies from dark brown to light sand; the entire bottom, including the inner sides of the legs, partly the foot and hand, is white. The tail is the same color as the back. In winter, the weasel turns white.

1. Habitats

The weasel lives in forests of all types, in the steppe and forest-steppe, in the desert, tundra, in the mountains and rises to alpine meadows. It does not avoid human settlements either: it can be found in the green areas of the largest cities (for example, in the parks of Moscow). In Russia, weasels are found everywhere.

1. Housing

This tiny predator does not dig its own burrow. As shelters, the weasel uses mainly the homes of voles, voids between stones, in piles of brushwood, in stacks, firewood stacks or buildings, and sometimes in low-lying tree hollows. The weasel has several permanent homes within the area; As for temporary shelters, she has no problems with this - in case of danger, she can instantly dash into the first hole of a vole, mouse, or mole that comes across.

1. Movements

In its movements, the weasel is fast and tireless, in its attack it is swift and lightning fast. The length of a weasel's jump is about 20-25 centimeters, and when escaping from pursuit - up to 40-50 centimeters. The footprint of a weasel in the snow is easy to recognize: it “doubles” - it places its paws in pairs.

1. Nutritional nature

The weasel is one of the most specialized predators: almost its entire diet consists of small mouse-like rodents. IN middle lane she mainly catches voles and mice, in steppe zone Hamsters are added to them; in deserts it feeds mainly on gerbils. Climbing through burrows, the weasel quite often catches and eats shrews, which other four-legged predators disdain. For the most part, the weasel hunts at dusk and at night, but you can often meet it or see fresh tracks in the daytime.

1. Behavior by season

In winter, the weasel turns white. All periods in the weasel breeding cycle are highly variable and largely depend on the abundance of food. Pregnant females are found from spring to autumn, most often in April, and young animals are found all year round. Pregnancy is short, lasting about a month or a little longer. In a litter there are most often 4-7 young, but there are up to 10. Newborns are born already in whitish embryonic down, which is gradually replaced by juvenile hair with a summer two-color color characteristic of adults. The cubs develop quite quickly: their milk teeth erupt and open somewhat earlier than the stoat’s (at the age of 3 weeks), their eyes appear and the following reflex subsides, and quite early (at the age of 4 weeks) they begin to respond to threats with characteristic “chirps” sound, secretion of odorous secretion from the anal glands when frightened. The predatory reflex in young weasels manifests itself already in the second month of life: at the age of 2-4 weeks they are still only interested in prey torn by the female, at 5 weeks the babies are already able to chew on dead mice on their own, and by the end of the 7th week they are actively chasing and killing themselves small mouse-like rodents.

1. Meaning

The weasel has no commercial significance; it is caught accidentally in fishing gear placed on other animals. The importance of this tiny predator as a “exterminator” of rodents that harm agriculture. Therefore, it must be protected in every possible way.



Description

Weasel (M.nivalis L., 1766) is the smallest predator in our country, belongs to the mustelidae family. This little animal got its name due to its extraordinary dexterity in climbing; it was originally called lazka.

Description

The predator is thin, flexible and extremely strong body, the head is small, only slightly thicker than the neck, the eyes are dark and large. The ears are small and rounded, set wide apart. The legs and tail are relatively short.
The body size and weight of the predator are subject to strong individual variability; the body length of males is 13-26 cm, females - 12-20 cm. The tail does not exceed 9 cm in length. The weight of males ranges from 40 to 250g, females - from 30 to 120g.

The weasel's great mobility, the ability to quickly climb various obstacles, together with the peculiar structure of the body, give the animal some resemblance to a snake.

Winter fur is pure white, low, but thick and silky. In summer, the top of the animal’s body is brown and the bottom is white; the fur is short, sparse and coarse.
Individuals inhabiting the northern territories of our country have much softer and silkier fur than those living in the south. Besides, southern forms V winter period, may not turn white completely.

By appearance weasel is very similar to, but has a number of characteristic differences: It is smaller in size, the tail is less than half the length of the body and in winter it is completely white.

Where does he live?

The distribution area occupies almost the entire territory of our country, with the exception of some islands in northern seas, absent from the Commander Islands and parts of the Kuril Islands.
In connection with this huge range The weasel has fairly strong geographic variability.

Currently, it is customary to distinguish the following subspecies: Siberian weasel, Transbaikalian, Transcaucasian, Central Asian, Central Russian and Caucasian.

Habitat

The distribution of the animal across the country is uneven; the number and density of the population depends primarily on the presence of mouse-like rodents and the number of its main competitor, the stoat.

It lives everywhere, unlike other representatives of mustelids, the distribution of which is influenced by a number of factors (forests, reservoirs, availability of food, etc.), it easily adapts to any living conditions, as long as there are a lot of mice. You can meet it in the tundra, taiga, steppes, semi-deserts and mountains. Its favorite habitats in the middle zone are clearings, forest edges, forest clearings and roads, banks of streams and rivers, fields and meadows with stacks of straw and hay. Often inhabits outbuildings in villages.

The weasel is a sedentary animal; its habitat is small and is determined by the abundance of food and weather conditions. Most often, one large site consists of several small ones, which are visited alternately. The length of the daily track ranges from 1 to 2.5 km.

Lifestyle and behavior

The basis of the animal's diet is small rodents– mice and voles. Its thin snake-like body allows it to freely penetrate rodent burrows. The weasel kills its victims in only one way - by biting it through the base of the skull, in more large species animals (water and gray rat, gophers, etc.) this is more difficult to do, which is why they rarely appear in her diet.
In addition to mice, it sometimes eats shrews, hamsters, amphibians, fish and small birds.

When there is an abundance of food, a predator produces much more than it can eat. Often, in various shelters he makes storerooms in which more than a dozen rodents can be hidden.

The animal can go hunting at any time, but preference is still given to the dark. During the day, you can most often find his traces in bad weather. When examining its area, the weasel, like the ermine, does not miss a single stump, fallen tree, hummock or other object of any hunting interest. But, unlike the latter, it goes under the snow much more often, sometimes staying there for a long time. IN severe frosts Can only hunt under snow.

Weasel tracks are often confused with ermine tracks; they can be distinguished by the following features:

The legacy of the caress is more fussy,
- she does not have triple traces,
- paw prints are closer to each other.

It moves only by jumping, the distance between the tracks is from 18 to 25 cm, in loose snow the tracks merge into one chain.

In winter, she does not have a permanent shelter; she can rest in the roots of trees, under the rubble of dead wood, in haystacks, in a woodpile, and sometimes she simply occupies the nest of an eaten vole.
She can arrange a shelter for breeding offspring in the same places.

There is no exact data on the timing of mating and pregnancy. The literature only indicates that they are changeable and impermanent, depending, first of all, on weather conditions and plenty of food.
The number of young animals in the brood depends on the number of mouse-like rodents; most often there are from 4 to 7. The animals appear blind and covered with sparse fluff.
Development takes quite a long time, because the young animals leave their mother only when they reach the size of an adult animal.

Weasels molt twice a year - in spring and autumn.

Enemies and meaning

The predator is not large in size, so it sometimes becomes prey for other animals: sable, ermine, ferret and large birds of prey.
Competitors of weasels include all animals that feed on small rodents.

Its significance is great; it feeds mainly on mouse-like rodents and simply destroys them in huge quantities. Some sources provide data that one animal can destroy from 2 to 3 thousand in a year. mice and voles.
Until the middle of the last century, weasels were caught during the hunting of fur-bearing animals, mainly by accident in traps set for small mustelids and moles.

Weasel hunting is currently prohibited everywhere.