Name of Animal: Least Weasel
Scientific name: Mustela nivalis
- They change fur color via molting
- They are long and slender making it easy for them to hunt mice and voles in burrows
- When the population of prey gets smaller they don’t kill off the population, instead they move to a different area where more prey is located
- They do not hibernate
- Smallest carnivore and they are fast hunters
- Weasels appeared in Europe more than 40 million years ago
- Weasels exhibit sexual dimorphism, which is when the male is larger than the female. This is believed because the male needs to hunt more and move more than the female who only has to hunt and give birth to its young.
- They interact in a mutual beneficial relationship with humans, because they eat insects and rodents
- Humans have killed weasels for their fur which makes them beneficial to the humans but decreases the weasel population
- The least weasel must eat 30 to 60 percent of its body weight each and everyday
- They are solitary predators, and only come together during the mating season
- Often called dwarf weasels because of their small size
Interdependence:
- The weasel mates with other weasels in its population and does not move to other areas with different populations unless absolutely necessary, for reasons such as food decline.
- In its community the weasel is considered a somewhat vicious predator that sometimes only kills and does not eat what it kills.
- Despite their small size the weasel is a very good hunter and can catch prey bigger than itself such as rabbits
- The weasel’s predation helps keep other rodent populations stay under control so that they don’t overpopulate and ruin the flow of energy
- The weasel helps control other populations by preying upon them but is kept under control by other predators such as large carnivorous birds such as eagles
- The weasel will move into a den of an animal that it has killed.
- It hunts for rabbits, rats, birds, frogs, ground squirrels and pika (a small rodent that lives in the mountains). It eats hundreds of meadow mice. Weasels that live in the north also feed on Arctic hare and lemming
- The weasel can find the open entrance to an animal's tunnel and hunt the animal underground.
- The weasel usually hunts at night. It kills its prey by biting it at the back of the neck.
- Snakes, hawks and owls kill the weasel. Weasels are trapped for their lovely fur.
Scientific name: Mustela nivalis
- They change fur color via molting
- They are long and slender making it easy for them to hunt mice and voles in burrows
- When the population of prey gets smaller they don’t kill off the population, instead they move to a different area where more prey is located
- They do not hibernate
- Smallest carnivore and they are fast hunters
- Weasels appeared in Europe more than 40 million years ago
- Weasels exhibit sexual dimorphism, which is when the male is larger than the female. This is believed because the male needs to hunt more and move more than the female who only has to hunt and give birth to its young.
- They interact in a mutual beneficial relationship with humans, because they eat insects and rodents
- Humans have killed weasels for their fur which makes them beneficial to the humans but decreases the weasel population
- The least weasel must eat 30 to 60 percent of its body weight each and everyday
- They are solitary predators, and only come together during the mating season
- Often called dwarf weasels because of their small size
Interdependence:
- The weasel mates with other weasels in its population and does not move to other areas with different populations unless absolutely necessary, for reasons such as food decline.
- In its community the weasel is considered a somewhat vicious predator that sometimes only kills and does not eat what it kills.
- Despite their small size the weasel is a very good hunter and can catch prey bigger than itself such as rabbits
- The weasel’s predation helps keep other rodent populations stay under control so that they don’t overpopulate and ruin the flow of energy
- The weasel helps control other populations by preying upon them but is kept under control by other predators such as large carnivorous birds such as eagles
- The weasel will move into a den of an animal that it has killed.
- It hunts for rabbits, rats, birds, frogs, ground squirrels and pika (a small rodent that lives in the mountains). It eats hundreds of meadow mice. Weasels that live in the north also feed on Arctic hare and lemming
- The weasel can find the open entrance to an animal's tunnel and hunt the animal underground.
- The weasel usually hunts at night. It kills its prey by biting it at the back of the neck.
- Snakes, hawks and owls kill the weasel. Weasels are trapped for their lovely fur.
- The weasel preys on small creatures that include bugs and small rodents and snakes.
- Those animals eat things such as other bugs and plants which get their energy from the sun.
- The weasel is then eaten by larger animals such as foxes, hawks, eagles, and other large birds of prey
- The weasel is a secondary consumer and as seen in the diagrams they along with other small predators can consume up to 90 kilocalories per square meter per year, which means that they consume less than the primary consumers but more than the tertiary consumers.
- This also means that they have a smaller population density than the primary consumers but a larger population density than the tertiary consumers.
- The cycling of nutrients is important to the weasel because the nutrients that the ecosystem receives from the decay of the prey the weasel did not eat helps create fertile soils for more and healthier plants to grow.
- These plants are critical for the survival of the prey the weasel consumes and without the prey the weasel would leave the area.
- When the weasel leaves the area its prey will over populate and there would not be enough resources to maintain the population causing starvation and death.
Succession:
- Successions is a following of things, events, people, or ranks after another in sequence of time, as in a succession of disasters.
- Before the taiga and the deciduous forest became inhabitable by wildlife is was once covered in ice and snow.
- The climate changed and the areas became warmer but were still susceptible to occasional periods of snow an ice and thus the seasons were created.
- The climate change resulted in a more suitable area for plants to grow in and more plants started to grow and cover the area.
- The area became inhabitable ad small animals such as insects and rodents began moving in.
- The weasel came into the area because their prey began moving there and they followed the prey.
- Once there the weasels stayed because there was a constant source of food, water and shelter.
Human Impact:
- As humans began lodging for the trees in the surrounding area the weasels lost more and more hunting land and prey.
- Farms were then being built near the land and the weasel began to prey on the livestock due to the decline of their natural prey.
- Humans did not like the idea of weasels hunting their livestock so they began trapping and killing them.
- The population decline of the weasels also increased population of its prey and cause a decrease in population in its predators.
- Humans trapped weasels and used their fur to make coats and for other utilities.
- Those animals eat things such as other bugs and plants which get their energy from the sun.
- The weasel is then eaten by larger animals such as foxes, hawks, eagles, and other large birds of prey
- The weasel is a secondary consumer and as seen in the diagrams they along with other small predators can consume up to 90 kilocalories per square meter per year, which means that they consume less than the primary consumers but more than the tertiary consumers.
- This also means that they have a smaller population density than the primary consumers but a larger population density than the tertiary consumers.
- The cycling of nutrients is important to the weasel because the nutrients that the ecosystem receives from the decay of the prey the weasel did not eat helps create fertile soils for more and healthier plants to grow.
- These plants are critical for the survival of the prey the weasel consumes and without the prey the weasel would leave the area.
- When the weasel leaves the area its prey will over populate and there would not be enough resources to maintain the population causing starvation and death.
Succession:
- Successions is a following of things, events, people, or ranks after another in sequence of time, as in a succession of disasters.
- Before the taiga and the deciduous forest became inhabitable by wildlife is was once covered in ice and snow.
- The climate changed and the areas became warmer but were still susceptible to occasional periods of snow an ice and thus the seasons were created.
- The climate change resulted in a more suitable area for plants to grow in and more plants started to grow and cover the area.
- The area became inhabitable ad small animals such as insects and rodents began moving in.
- The weasel came into the area because their prey began moving there and they followed the prey.
- Once there the weasels stayed because there was a constant source of food, water and shelter.
Human Impact:
- As humans began lodging for the trees in the surrounding area the weasels lost more and more hunting land and prey.
- Farms were then being built near the land and the weasel began to prey on the livestock due to the decline of their natural prey.
- Humans did not like the idea of weasels hunting their livestock so they began trapping and killing them.
- The population decline of the weasels also increased population of its prey and cause a decrease in population in its predators.
- Humans trapped weasels and used their fur to make coats and for other utilities.