The 3 types of weasels in Idaho and how to tell the difference

A white object with a black flag waving in the calm air was a very welcome sight as I drove around the auto-route of Camas National Wildlife refuge. In the new-fallen snow, I slid to a stop as the object quickly disappeared under the rip-rap hauled in to stop the bank from eroding on the Toomey Pond.

“A weasel,” I exclaimed out loud as I had been trying to find a white one to photograph for the past two winters.

It didn’t take long before I saw two black dots peering out of the hole as its tiny eyes were the only contrasting features in a sea of white. My camera refused to work.

“Everything is white and there is nothing to focus on,” I heard the auto-focus tell me.

As the weasel paused near the side of a dark rock, I put my focus point half on the rock and half on the weasel, and BINGO, my stubborn camera started recording what it saw – not great but better. By that time the long slender animal had dove back down the hole from which it had come out. The little devil finally came out after I finished switching my settings from auto-focus to manual and over-exposing the snow, resulting in better pictures.

As the Long-tailed weasel popped in and out of the snow-covered rocks, I fine-tuned my settings so I could get some respectable shots.

But wait a minute — some of you are wondering why I am writing about a white Long-tailed weasel. Aren’t all white weasels known as “ermine?” Nope – that is the real fake news!!

There are three types of weasels in Idaho. The Least weasel (a tiny one that is the size of a mouse), the Short-tailed weasel (which is the true ermine) and the most numerous one in Idaho, the Long-tailed weasel. The confusion comes from the fashion industry that classifies the white fur decorations on European royalty and Catholic robes are called “ermine” even though most of them come from Long-tailed weasels.

The Short-tailed and Long-tailed have the same size of body, but the Short-tailed’s tail is about a third of their body length while the Long-tailed has a tail about half of its body length. All three types are tan/brown during the summer but turn white in the fall. Oftentimes, they will grow their white coat before there is snow on the ground but being nocturnal, they are rarely seen.

All weasels are ferocious little devils known to attack other animals much larger than themselves. Killing chickens gave them such a bad reputation, many states placed a bounty on them to keep their numbers low. They kill whenever they have an opportunity and then store their kill in burrows in the ground or in hollow logs. But because of their high metabolism and their lack of a nice warm coat, they have to consume 75% of their body weight every winter day to survive.

Their ferocious attitude is not their only defense as they have a serious body odor problem. Being a cousin to the skunk, they belong to the Mustelidae family and have two stink bombs near their vent that is always fully ready for deployment. Their scent smells worse than that of a skunk and is a warning for any attacker. It has been reported that the scent burns when it gets into the eyes of attackers.

I stayed my distance as I tried to work out my photography problems and the little stinker gave me about half an hour to play before it disappeared in the nearby bulrushes. I was happy to see it and happy to see it leave. I did not want it to hitch a ride home with me.