The food of the short-tailed weasel probably consists chiefly of various species of meadow mice and lemmings. Observations indicate that ground squirrels and rabbits may occasionally be captured. Shrews no doubt are also on the menu.
In winter, weasel tracks form an odd pattern. Their jumps are alternately long and short, and often they make an erratic trail. Frequently the tracks show that the weasel disappears and travels beneath the surface for a stretch before reappearing.
Even though weasels are not very palatable because of their well-developed musk glands, they nevertheless are often preyed upon. It is a case of coyote or fox capturing any small animal that moves and examining the victim afterwards. Weasels are often left uneaten.
Short-tailed weasel.
Least Weasel
Mustela rixosa eskimo
The range of the least weasel is circumpolar. In North America it is found over most of Alaska and Canada, and southward to Montana, Kansas, North Carolina. It is widely dispersed but apparently nowhere abundant. This tiny weasel is only 6 to 6½ inches long with a maximum tail length of 1½ inches. It is the smallest living member of the carnivores and weighs no more than a meadow mouse. The tail is pure white, lacking the black tip present in other weasels.
I have a record of four specimens from the park. One captured in a mousetrap was 5½ inches long, the tail measuring less than 1 inch. I found a dead one at an eagle perch on a ridge top, and remains of two others on gravel bars, apparently discarded after being captured.
A sourdough on the Koyokuk River with whom my brother and I stayed one night, had a least weasel spending the winter with him. It had the run of the cabin and was very tame.
Apparently the chief food of the least weasel is mice, some of them about as large as himself.