Mustela sibirica

The yellow weasel is 28-40 cm long, with a tail length of 12-25 cm and a weight of 210-1200 g. It is of medium size and has a slender body. It has a thin head and a long neck. The ear shell is short and wide, slightly protruding from the hair tuft. The tail is about half the length of the body. The tail hair is long and fluffy in winter, thin in summer and autumn, and the tail hair does not spread out. The limbs are short, all with 5 toes, with sharp claws at the end of the toes, and a small membrane between the toes. The anal glands are well developed. The base of the penis bone of the male animal is enlarged into a tubercle, and the end is hooked.
The yellow weasel's fur color ranges from light sandy brown to yellow-brown, with a lighter color. The fur is relatively sparse and short, with guard hairs 25-29 mm long, down hairs 15-18 mm long, and guard hairs 118-130 microns thick. The back hair is slightly darker; the belly hair is slightly lighter, and the limbs and tail are t

Existing: Bhutan, China, India, South Korea, North Korea, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and the Russian Federation.
Uncertain presence: Laos and Thailand.
Existing and introduced: Japan.
In China, it is distributed in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang and Taiwan.
It lives in mountains and plains, and is found in forest edges, river valleys, shrubs and grass hills, and often appears near villages. It lives in stone caves, tree holes or under fallen trees. It is common in primary and secondary deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests, as well as small patches of forest and forest-steppe in open areas. They are common in fields and cultivated land in rural China, and are easily attracted by high density of rodents. They can occur in large cities in ce

The yellow weasel (scientific name: Mustela sibirica) is also known as the Siberian Weasel. It is a small carnivore of the family Mustelidae and the class Mammalia. It has 12 subspecies and is commonly known as the yellow weasel.

The yellow weasel is a nocturnal animal, especially active in the early morning and dusk, and sometimes active during the day. Camera capture and direct observation indicate that the species is mainly diurnal, although it has been captured by camera and found to be more active at night. Usually acts alone. Good at running, can move along the ground, drill through cracks and caves, and can also swim, climb trees and walls. Except for the breeding season, there is generally no fixed nest. They usually hide under piles of firewood, piles of rocks, holes in walls, etc. They have a very keen sense of smell, but poor vision. They are ferocious and often kill prey that exceeds their food intake.

In winter, weasels often follow the migration of rodents and sneak into villages, building nests in stone caves and tree holes. They are good at climbing and swimming, and can also jump high and low, chasing prey in the piles of rocks in dry ditches at lightning speed. Weasels are very alert and always maintain a high state of alert. It is very difficult to attack them by surprise. Once they are chased by dogs or people, when there is no way to retreat and they cannot escape, weasels will fiercely launch a desperate counterattack against the intruders, appearing fearless and very ferocious. The yellow weasel and other members of its family have another weapon to repel the enemy, which is a pair of bean-shaped scent glands located on both sides of the anus. When they run away, they can burst out a smelly secretion from the scent glands. If the enemy is hit in the head by this secretion, it will cause poisoning. In mild cases, the person will feel dizzy, nauseous and vomit, and in severe cases, he will fall to the ground and become unconscious.

The yellow weasel has a very diverse diet, mainly feeding on small mammals. In the wild, mice and hares are the main food, such as voles, squirrels, mice and hares. Although hares run very fast in short distances, they will always be caught up and bitten off their necks due to fear and exhaustion after a long high-speed chase, becoming the victim of the yellow weasel. It also eats amphibians, fish, bird eggs, insects and carrion, and feeds on pine nuts when they are seasonally available. Near homes, they often sneak attack poultry at night, first sucking their blood, then eating their internal organs and bodies. They are addicted to blood sucking. They use their scent glands to release odor to defend themselves. According to surveys, each yellow weasel can prey on 6-7 mice overnight.

Yellow weasels mate in March and April every year. Females in the late pregnancy move cautiously and slowly. Before giving birth, they choose to build nests in hidden places such as under firewood stacks, caves on embankments, cemeteries, piles of rocks, and tree holes. The gestation period of females is 33-37 days. They usually give birth in May, with 2-8 pups per litter. Newborn pups are covered with white fetal hair, with their eyes closed and lying on their sides. They reach sexual maturity at 9-10 months of age. Their lifespan is 10-20 years.

There are no known major threats to the yellow weasel. High levels of hunting in China may lead to local declines. Competition with sable and natural wildfires are thought to pose lesser threats. In the southern Tibet region of China, roadkill and skin hunting have been recorded in recent years. They are hunted or killed by various other means when it comes to habitat theft. They are legally hunted in Russia for their fur. Russian painters particularly value brushes made from their tail hair. As a small forest carnivore, they are not well protected by local forest managers or people living in forest areas of China, although most of them are listed as protected animals by national or local governments. There is extensive, intensive and potentially unsustainable fur hunting in southern China. However, in some areas, hunting levels are low, reflecting the low commercial value of their fur.

The yellow weasel is protected in Tibet, China and Thailand. They are listed on the "China Red List of Endangered" because they are assessed to almost meet the threshold of "Vulnerable A2cd" decline rate. There are many protected areas in the Himalayas and the Palearctic. It is unclear whether its population level can be sustained in the long term; there is no species population monitoring. It is very abundant in all areas of its range in China and Russia, indicating that science-based management is urgently needed.

The yellow weasel preys on rodents in large quantities and is a natural enemy of rodents. It is estimated that a weasel can eat 1500-3200 mice a year. The fur of the weasel can be processed into fur coats, but its skin is not valuable in summer, and it is expensive only in the heavy snow and light snow season after winter. China uses its tail hair to make brushes, called wolf hair. Weasel skin and weasel hair are traditional Chinese wild fur animal export items.

Listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2016 ver 3.1 - Least Concern (LC).  

Listed in Appendix I, II and III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 2019 edition Appendix III.  

Listed in the List of Terrestrial Wildlife with Important Economic and Scientific Research Values under State Protection issued and implemented by the State Forestry Administration of China on August 1, 2000.

Listed in China's "List of Key Protected Terrestrial Wildlife in Zhejiang Province" and other local wildlife protection lists.

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