What Other Animal Looks Like a Weasel

What Other Animal Looks Like a Weasel

American marten

Martes americana

The American marten is weasel-like with a long trunk and pointy face. The legs are brusk; the toes, including the pads, are completely furred; and the nails are semiretractile. The tail is bushy and long. The pelage in wintertime is luxuriant, with a dense underfur and sparse covering of guard hairs. The color varies, but usually is a golden dark-brown shading to night brown on the anxiety and tail; the head is lighter. The pharynx and chest are splotched with orangish or yellow. A pocket-sized dark stripe extends upward from the medial corner of each centre, giving the appearance of a vertical countenance.

In Oregon, the marten occurs in the Blue and Wallowa mountains, in the Pour Range, and to a limited extent in the Coast Range. It seems to exist absent-minded from the northern Coast Range, the Columbia Basin, the southeastern high desert, and the Willamette Valley. It is a wood species capable of tolerating a diversity of habitat types if nutrient and encompass are adequate.

Martens are active year-round, although they may remain in their dens for a twenty-four hours or two during inclement weather. They unremarkably utilise elevated perches from which to pounce on terrestrial casualty; they also may follow tracks of prey in snow, excavate burrows, overstate openings to tree dens, and rob bird nests. Martens cache prey or parts thereof and return to consume them later, sometimes within minutes or after a solar day or so at other times.

The American marten is an Oregon Conservation Strategy Species in these ecoregions: Blueish Mountains, Coast Range, Due east Cascades, Klamath Mountains, and West Cascades.

Photograph from ODFW

Fisher

Martes pennanti

The Fisher is considerably larger than the marten and males are considerably larger than females. It is more stockily congenital than the weasels, only is like in that the head is somewhat pointed, the torso elongate, and the legs short. The pelage is long except on the confront. The fur is night brownish grading to black on the rump and legs; the tail is blackness.

Fishers once occurred throughout the coniferous and mixed forests of Oregon's Coast Range and Cascade Mountains. Currently, there is a native population in the Siskiyou Mountains and an introduced populations in the southern Cascades that remains from ODFW'south reintroductions of fishers from British Columbia and Minnesota in the 1960s and 1980s.

Fishers are active year-round, but more active in summer than in wintertime. They are capable of making extensive movements in relatively short periods, and have the reputation of being fleet and active. Its ability to prey on porcupines is unique and renowned.

Fisher are an Oregon Conservation Strategy Species in the Coast Range, Klamath Mountains and West Cascades ecoregions.

Photo from ODFW

Ermine

Mustela erminea

The Ermine is the smallest member of the genus in Oregon. It has a long, cylindrical cervix and body and short legs, but the tail is relatively short. The head is flattened and somewhat triangular, the eyes are pocket-sized and slightly protruding, and the ears are rounded. The summer pelage is brown dorsally, commonly white or yellowish ventrally; in some individuals the throat and belly are splotched with brown or are entirely brown. In some populations e of the Pour Range, ermines replace brown summer pelage with a white winter pelage. The tip of the tail remains blackness at all seasons, an accommodation to flim-flam raptors into striking short.

In Oregon, most Ermine are constitute west of the Pour Range, but a few are plant in eastern Oregon. Ermines are agile throughout the year. Male and female ermines exercise not associate except during the convenance flavour, a period when juveniles remain in nests nether maternal care.

Photo past Fabio Bretto, Flickr

Long-tailed weasel

Mustela frenata

The Long-tailed weasel is the larger of the two weasels in Oregon, but smaller than the other member of the genus, the mink. Males are considerably larger than females. The head is flattened and somewhat triangular; the body and cervix are elongate and almost cylindrical; the legs are brusque, and the tail is long. The summer pelage is brownish dorsally; the venter is yellowish to orangish except for a white mentum and sometimes one or more scattered brown spots. The tip of the tail is black. The pelage is molted twice annually. In the Pour Range and due east through the remainder of the land, the winter pelage often is white although in parts of the region some individuals may remain brown in wintertime. This species occurs throughout the state.

Long-tailed weasels are active throughout the year. Although they sometimes are considered to be nocturnal, they are often active during the daylight hours. Weasels can swim and climb only they mostly hunt on the footing. When snow is on the ground, they often seek prey by burrowing beneath the snow.

Photo by Bob Petit

Mink

Mustela vison

The Mink is a semiaquatic species. The body is elongate and cylindrical, the legs are short and stout, the tail is bushy and about half every bit long equally the head and body. The caput is flattened, the ears small-scale and rounded, and the olfactory organ is pointed. The pelage consists of dense grayish underfur and long lustrous guard hairs. Dorsally, it is nighttime brown to blackish but somewhat lighter on the venter.

In Oregon, the mink is found throughout the state and is associated with river, lake, pond, or marsh environments. They fodder along overhanging banks, and in holes and crevices. They as well peer into the h2o, quickly diving when they sight prey.

Photo by Dave Budeau, ODFW

Wolverine

Gulo gulo

The Wolverine is the largest terrestrial mustelid in Oregon that, to some caste, resembles a small acquit.

Information technology is powerfully built with a wide, dog-like caput; short round ears; pocket-size eyes; a slightly humped back; relatively short legs and a bushy, somewhat drooping tale. The pelage consists of a dense, wooly, crimped under fur overlain past course, stiff and somewhat shaggy guard hairs. Fur on the tail is nigh twice as long as on the torso. The base of operations color is blackish brown with a pale dark-brown stripe extending forth the sides from the caput or shoulders to the base of operations of the tail. Lighter markings often produce a confront mask. The throat and chest are splotches with yellowish white, and a ventral gland is marked with a narrow streak of white.

In Oregon, Wolverines have been institute on Iii-fingered Jack in Linn County, on the Steens Mountains in Harney County, Broken Summit Mountain in Deschutes County, and in the Hawkeye Cap Wilderness Expanse in the Wallowa Mountains of northeastern Oregon. More recently it was confirmed in Wallowa County, also.

Wolverines practise not hibernate, only may be inactive during inclement weather. Activity is greatest at night, but where wolverines are relatively mutual, sighting a wolverine during daylight hours might be expected.

The Wolverine has a reputation for having a mean and savage disposition; the reputation likely derived from observations of individuals caught in traps or in cages. Trapped or caged individuals can showroom defensive aggression unmatched by most other species in similar circumstances. They are powerful animals that frequently can escape from traps, can tear into buildings or food caches, and tin kill fifty-fifty the largest cervids.

The Wolverine is an Oregon Conservation Strategy Species in the Blue Mountains ecoregion.

Photograph by ODFW

American badger

Taxidea taxus

The American annoy is a medium-sized, powerfully built carnivore strongly adapted for excavation. The body is flattened and the legs are brusque but stout; the toes of the forefeet are partly webbed and equipped with long, curved claws; the hind feet are shaped like miniature shovels; and each heart is equipped with a membrane that can be extended to comprehend it. The ears are rounded and densely covered with fur but seem big in comparing with those of many excavation mammals. The tail is brusk and brushlike. Dorsally, the long, shaggy pelage is mottled grayish blending on the venter to light tannish or whitish. A white stripe extends from the nose pad to the shoulder, and may extend to the rump. The face is black with white splotches surrounding a black "badge" on either cheek. Badgers molt annually.

In Oregon, American badgers occur thoughout the region eastward of the Cascade Range and in eastern Jackson County wherever prey is abundant. They are largely nocturnal just occasionally may be seen abroad during daylight hours.

Photo by Nick Myatt, ODFW

River otter

Lutra canadensis

The River otter is adapted for both terrestrial and aquatic environments. The heavily muscled, somewhat cylindrical trunk is thickest at the thorax and tapers posteriorly to a thick, flattened tail. The body tapers to a blunt and slightly flattened head. The legs are short and powerful; and the toes are webbed. The optics are small, forwardly directed and set high on the head. The underfur is grayish, brusque, and dense, and overlain by longer, strong and shiny guard hairs. The back is dark-brown and the venter a lighter brown or tan; the lower jaw and throat are whitish.

In Oregon, River otters are mostly found west of the Pour Range but have been found in eastern Klamath Canton and in Deschutes, Wallowa, and Malheur counties. The River otter is associated with river, lake, swimming or marsh habitats, but may make all-encompassing overland excursions from one such habitat to another.

River otters are considered among the more social members of the mustelidae family unit. In addition to the adult male-female person association during the convenance season and the maternal female to young association, a variety of groupings of otters in unlike sex and age-classes accept been observed.

Photo by Pat Matthews, ODFW

Western spotted skunk

Spilogale gracilis

The Western spotted skunk is smaller and more weasel-like than the Striped skunk. The pelage is blackness with a somewhat pentagonal white patch between the eyes, a round white patch on each side of the caput and four or six segmented white body stripes. This skunk is endowed with a muscle-encapsulated musk gland similar to those of the Striped skunk and so similarly, tin can eject musk from two papillae located under the tail. The odor of the musk is considered somewhat more than pungent or acrid but is less spreading than that of the Striped skunk.

In Oregon, this skunk occurs throughout most of the state but information technology is believed not to occur in most of the Willamette Valley. It does not hibernate, merely tends to be less active during periods of unusually cold atmospheric condition. It is primarily nocturnal and highly secretive. Although equipped with a superb defense force system, the Western spotted skunk tolerates considerable disturbance before resorting to the use of musk.

Photo from Wikipedia

Striped skunk

Mephitis mephitis

The Striped skunk is nigh the size of a house true cat with a pointed caput; slightly upturned, nearly spherical nose pad; and beady blackness eyes. The pelage is entirely black except for a narrow white stripe on the forehead and olfactory organ, a white pate leading to two diverging white stripes on the back that extend partly or completely to the rump. Entirely white skunks, or skunks with the black replaced past seal chocolate-brown or the white replaced past yellow are besides know to occur.

Without doubt, the almost widely recognized characteristic of the Striped skunk is the pungent aroma of the musk that it produces. A musculus-encapsulated gland positioned under the tail produces a liquid that can be expelled.

It occurs in suitable habitats throughout Oregon, except in higher elevations, ordinarily in more open habitats.

Striped skunks tend to exist docile and unobtrusive; except during breeding season or when infected with rabies, they are not aggressive or belligerent. In winter they often den communally.

Photo by Thomas Fisk

What Other Animal Looks Like a Weasel

Source: https://myodfw.com/wildlife-viewing/species/weasels-skunks-badgers-and-otters