AL Wildlife Officials Look For Long-Tailed Weasel Sightings

MONTGOMERY, AL — The Alabama Division of Wildlife is looking for sightings of the long-tailed weasel. Although not native to Alabama, state wildlife officials say they want to learn more about the creature and urge Alabamians to report any sightings.

"These lively, intelligent animals are Alabama’s smallest carnivore," the Alabama Division of Wildlife said in a statement Tuesday. "Seemingly full of energy, they bound about enthusiastically searching for prey. Long-tailed weasels primarily eat mice and rats, but this 'generalist' predator has a broad diet that includes small rabbits, squirrels, birds, reptiles, and insects."

Long-tailed weasels are also habitat generalists, living in a variety of ecosystems from forests to wetlands to grasslands. The key limiting factor for their distribution seems to be abundant availability of prey, officials said.

They resemble mink, another Alabama member of the weasel family, but they can be distinguished in a few ways:

• Long-tailed weasels are distinctly two-tone in color, brown on top and creamy-white below, whereas mink are uniformly dark brown.
• Long-tailed weasels have a clearly defined black-tipped tail. Mink fur may gradually become darker toward the back of the body and tail, but the tail does not have the obvious black tip.
• The animals also differ in size. Long-tailed weasels are smaller than a gray squirrel whereas mink are larger.

Alabamians can help the Nongame Wildlife Program learn more about the distribution of long-tailed weasels by reporting your sightings with photographs and location information to Alabama Division of Wildlife.