**Nature Nugget**

They are beautiful creatures, with long slim bodies, short legs and ears, white marks on their foreheads, chins and paws, and a distinctive black tipped tail. If you are lucky enough to spot one of these elusive animals, you will likely find these characteristics quite cute. But do not let them fool you. These weasels are cunning and ferocious predators, with a well-developed sense of smell, hearing and sight, which may attack animals far larger than themselves. They are good climbers, can swim, and have exceptionally flexible backs that allow them to access the burrows of rodents much smaller than they are. Needless to say, these little guys are not to be messed with.

Long-tailed weasels are carnivores, most active at night, with a very high metabolic rate that requires them to eat approximately 40% of their body weight every day. Most of their diet is made up of small mammals such as mice, voles, gophers, rabbits, and chipmunks, with occasional birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects. They are solitary animals, except during mating season, and generally live in the abandoned burrows of other mammals, or make their dens under stumps or rock piles. Though not commonly seen, they live in a wide variety of habitats, including wetlands, woodlands, thickets, prairies and farmland. When threatened or marking their territory, the long-tailed weasels produce a strong, musky odor that they rub onto surfaces in order to leave the scent to discourage predators.

What is unique about the long-tailed weasels is that they mate in the summer, and the gestation period lasts approximately 10 months, with actual embryonic development taking place only during the last four weeks of this period. This allows for the weasels to mate but continue to hunt successfully for many months, while timing their births for spring, when their food sources are abundant.