An adult female (now the holotype of _Mustela frenata nevadensis_) seen
running across a field, and, I think, unaware of my presence, at every
bound bent her back up so far that she reminded me of a measuring worm.
For part of the time when running, the tail was held off the ground
straight out behind, and then, for a while, inclined upward at an angle
of about 45°. Another weasel that I saw in the daytime, and that I
think was unaware of my presence, was bounding along among the
_Baccharis_ bushes on the south-facing slope of Dwight Way Canyon,
Berkeley, California. This individual, at each bound, arched the back
up so high as to remind me, again, of a measuring worm.
The long-tailed weasel is a land mammal and unlike its close relative,
the mink, is seldom seen in the water. That it can swim, however, is
attested by the capture of one while it was swimming across the Río
Ramos in México (Davis, 1944:381). Also, Green (1936), in May, in
Gratiot County, Michigan, saw a weasel, running with a _Peromyscus_ in
its mouth. The weasel dropped the mouse, entered the water and swam to
a hole among stones.
More instances of climbing, than of swimming, have been reported in the
literature for the long-tailed weasel. Seton (1929 (2):625) quotes
William M. Graffius of Pennsylvania as having seen a weasel closely
pursue a red squirrel nearly to the topmost branch of a large hemlock.
When the squirrel loosed its hold and dropped into a stream, the weasel
descended to the ground and caught and killed the squirrel when it
emerged from the water. Pearce (1937:483), in central New York State,
on July 29, 1931, watched a weasel chase a chipmunk up a black cherry
tree ten inches in diameter, and noted that the first rush carried the
weasel "straight up the trunk for approximately 10 feet, where it
hesitated momentarily before continuing. Then, instead of climbing
vertically, it made progress by traveling in short ascending spirals
around the trunk, scarcely making 3 feet in height for each circuit of
the tree. Upon reaching the limb by which the chipmunk escaped, the
weasel followed out along this in the same spiral manner. This limb had
a diameter of about 4 inches at its base and extended upward at an
angle of perhaps 20 degrees above the horizontal . . . it made its way
head first almost down to the ground, using the same spiral mode of
progress, but at a leisurely pace. . . . While traveling down the side
limb it appeared practically to wrap its sinuous body around the limb."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account