Mustelids, Procyonids And Other Carnivorans

This group gathers Carnivorans that do not belong to the cat, dog or bear families: the weasel family, Mustelidae, the largest family in the order, including weasels, stoats, minks, martens, polecats, badgers, otters, the wolverine and the honey badger; the raccoon family, Procyonidae, including raccoons, coatis, the kinkajou and the olinguito; the civet, genet and mongoose families; the hyena family; and the fossa, Madagascar's own top predator and a close relative of the mongoose family despite its cat-like build. Their shared trait, beyond membership in the order Carnivora, is simply that none of them belongs to the three families large enough to warrant their own group above, spanning aquatic hunters such as the otters, burrowing hunters such as the badgers, and highly social hunters such as the banded mongoose.