Mustela frenata Lichtenstein
Long-tailed Weasel
Description.—Male long-tailed weasels measure about 16 inches in total length of which 6 inches is the length of the tail. Females are smaller, measuring about 14 inches in length with a tail 5 inches long. The body is long and exceedingly thin. The legs are short and stout with rather large feet and strong, curved claws. The tail is well-furred, not tapered, but lacks the bushy appearance of the tail of the fisher. The head is low, wide at the base and abruptly tapering to the muzzle. The ears are erect, low and rounded. The fur is short but dense and rather soft. In summer the color of the head, back, sides and outside of the legs is brown. The throat, chest, underside of body and insides of legs are yellow or orange. In winter they may be entirely white, save for the black tip of the tail. The tail is slightly darker than the back in summer and possesses a long black tip.
Long-tailed weasels do not hibernate even in the coldest parts of Washington. They are active both by day and by night, apparently doing their hunting at the time of day or night when they can most easily obtain food. In the Cascade Mountains where diurnal mammals such as squirrels, chipmunks and pikas are common, weasels are not uncommonly seen by day. In the lowlands of western Washington, where they feed on more nocturnal mammals, they are seldom seen.
The long-tailed weasel is relatively unspecialized in habits. They climb readily and skillfully. They are active on the surface of the ground and follow the burrow systems of fossorial animals such as gophers and mountain beavers.
Weasels seen in the wild rarely exhibit fear of man but rather are curious and apt to watch his actions. Weasels are also often hit by cars and the number so killed seems to me to be out of proportion to their actual numbers.
In moving on the surface of the ground the weasel arches its back and contracts the body until the four feet are rather close together. When the long neck and small head are held upright the animal presents a surprisingly giraffelike appearance. When climbing, the long, slim body has a snakelike appearance. A weasel travels swiftly and erratically in a series of bounds and seems always to know where the next hole is situated.
The weasel has been accused of killing birds and doubtless does so when opportunity presents itself. However, in Washington I have no actual evidence of its killing birds other than domestic fowls. At Republic, Ferry County, a companion and I saw a weasel enter the burrow of a ground squirrel (Citellus columbianus). The following day we returned to the area. The weasel was not seen but a ground squirrel dashed into the hole at our approach. Seemingly the ground squirrel had eluded the weasel. At Conconully, Okanogan County, we set a number of gopher traps in an alfalfa field. The following morning an adult male long-tailed weasel was found in a trap but not a gopher was taken. Near Moses Lake, Grant County, an adult male weasel was caught in a gopher trap, but no gophers were taken. At Shelton, Mason County, 50 gopher traps were set. At daylight the following morning the first trap visited was found to be pulled into the burrow. When a gentle tug was given the wire fastening the trap, a decisive jerk at the other end showed that the catch was alive. If trapped gophers that pull the traps back into their burrows are pulled out by main strength, their skins are often torn and damaged. Therefore an attempt was made to reach into the burrow and pull back the sod. An adult female long-tailed weasel promptly fastened its teeth into my forefinger and clung on, bulldog fashion, to be lifted into the air with the attached trap swinging. When the left hand was used to force the animal to release its grip, it fastened onto the left thumb. With right thumb and forefinger I forced it to release its grip, but was unable to elude its teeth which again fastened to my right forefinger. Only by laying it on the ground and crushing its chest with my foot could I free myself from the vicious little beast. No gophers were taken in traps set less than 150 feet from where the weasel was trapped. In the three instances mentioned above, weasels had seemingly killed all the gophers in their immediate vicinity. As regards the gophers near Moses Lake, none was found a year later in the area where the weasel was taken and only old, abandoned burrows were seen. T. H. [Scheffer] (1932: 54) records other instances of the capture of weasels in gopher burrows.
At the northern limits of the city of Seattle, steel traps were set for mountain beavers in a rather dense colony of these mammals. Well-used burrows indicated that approximately 10 individuals were present. The following morning an exceptionally large male weasel was found in a trap, but all others were empty. The traps were left out for two additional nights but no mountain beavers were taken. A month later the colony seemed abandoned and no evidence of recent digging was noted. It could only be concluded that the weasel had killed the animals comprising the colony. A large mountain beaver weighs three or four pounds, which is 6 or 8 times as much as a weasel. [Edson] (1933: 76) recounts trapping 7 weasels in burrows of mountain beavers near Bellingham, Whatcom County.
Near Forks, Clallam County, a weasel was seen pursuing a young snowshoe rabbit (Lepus americanus washingtonii) along the edge of a concrete highway. As our car approached and passed the animals, they separated, the weasel retreating to the cover of horsetail (Equisetum) beside the road. The car was stopped 50 feet ahead. As we emerged the weasel dashed from cover to intercept the rabbit in the center of the road. The weasel knocked the rabbit to its side and, placing its feet on the rabbit's shoulders, bit fiercely at its neck. It then dashed back to the cover of the horsetails. The rabbit stood up, made two hops and died. It was approximately two weeks old.