Siberian weasel
Fire weasel (Mustela sibirica )
The Fire Weasel, also known as Siberian weasel (Mustela sibirica ) and Siberian Mink known, is a predatory species of the marten family ( Mustelidae ).
Features
Fire Wiesel reach a body length 25-39 cm, a tail length of 13-21 cm and a weight of 360-820 grams, with males are significantly larger and heavier than females. Their fur is reddish yellow in winter, very long and thick, the summer fur is darker, mostly brownish and thinner. Your body is elongated, the limbs and tail are relatively short.
Distribution and habitat
Fire weasels are located in Eastern Europe and many parts of Asia, their range extends from the European part of Russia to the Okhotsk Sea and southward to Tibet and northern Thailand. They also live in Japan and Taiwan, on Sakhalin they were introduced. Their habitat are primarily forests, mostly in the vicinity of water. Synanthropic they are also sometimes seen in towns and cities.
Way of life
Fire weasels live solitary and are crepuscular or nocturnal. When resting places serve them hollow logs, rock crevices, the root system of trees or build other animals, sometimes building. They dress their nest with hair, feathers or plants. In the evening or at night, they go in search of food, which helps her good sense of smell and hearing. They lay up to 8 km in one night back and can climb and swim very well. In times of food scarcity, companies pronounced mass migrations.
Food
Fire weasels are skilled hunters who mainly feed on small mammals such as rodents, shrews or pikas. Birds and their eggs, frogs, fish and insects supplement the diet.
Reproduction
The mating season is in late winter or spring. Several males follow a female and often fight with each other for the privilege of mating. After a 30 - day gestation, come April-June two to twelve ( average of five ) pups. These open the eyes with a month and are weaned after two months. Approximately in August they leave their mother. But the babies are often still together during the autumn. In the wild, the average life expectancy is about two years and the maximum age is five to six years, animals in captivity may be eight years old.
Fire Wiesel and human
Although fire weasel sometimes tear poultry, total but they are regarded with favor because they consume many regarded as pests rodents. For this reason, they have been introduced to some islands. Sometimes they are also hunted for their fur (see Kolinskyfell ), but overall they are widespread. They are not an endangered species (Least Concern ) even after the Red List of endangered species by the World Conservation Union IUCN. The Washington Convention CITES leads this way at the request of India in Appendix III of the Convention. It is thus referred to as one in India provided with special trade provisions Art. The European Union judges in the EU Wildlife Trade Regulation ( EC) No 338/ 97 and in the amendment made by EC Regulation 407/2009 Annex D as a species whose import volume justifies a market surveillance in the European Union.
Brush
The hair from the tail of fire Wiesel be used for the production of high-quality brush. From a tail only 1.5 g of hair can be obtained, which is enough for three brushes the force eight. Because the hair is so hard to get, One kilogram of these hairs 12000 euros.
System
Fire Wiesel be included within the genus Mustela in the subgenus lutreola, they are so closely related to the European mink than living in Europe weasels. The Japan Wiesel was temporarily classified as a subspecies of Wiesel's fire, but is now considered as an independent art