Weasel
Weasels ( /ˈwiːzəl/) are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs.
Weasels vary in length from 173 to 217 mm (6.8 to 8.5 in), females being smaller than the males, and usually have red or brown upper coats and white bellies; some populations of some species moult to a wholly white coat in winter. They have long, slender bodies, which enable them to follow their prey into burrows. Their tails may be from 34 to 52 mm (1.3 to 2.0 in) long. Weasels have a reputation for cleverness, quickness and guile.
Weasels feed on small mammals, and have from time to time been considered vermin, since some species took poultry from farms, or rabbits from commercial warrens. They occur all across the world except for Antarctica, Australia, and neighbouring islands. Some people train dogs to sniff out weasels. The benefit of this is to protect chickens and small mammals.
Read more about Weasel: Terminology, Species, Cultural Meanings
Famous quotes containing the word weasel:
“This whole day have I followed in the rocks,
And you have changed and flowed from shape to shape,
First as a raven on whose ancient wings
Scarcely a feather lingered, then you seemed
A weasel moving on from stone to stone....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“There was a weasel lived in the sun
With all his family,
Till a keeper shot him with his gun”
—Edward Thomas (1878–1917)
“One of our defects as a nation is a tendency to use what have been called “weasel words.” When a weasel sucks eggs the meat is sucked out of the egg. If you use a “weasel word” after another there is nothing left of the other.”
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)