Amazon weasel

The Amazon weasel, Neogale africana, also known as the tropical weasel, is a New World weasel native to South America. It was first identified from a museum specimen mislabelled as coming from Africa, hence the scientific name, and a 2021 study moved it from Mustela into Neogale. It is the largest of the three South American weasels, measuring 43 to 52 centimetres including a tail of 16 to 21 centimetres, with short reddish to dark brown fur above, pale orange-tan underparts and a stripe of upper-body colour down the chest and throat. It inhabits the Amazon basin in north-central Brazil, northern Bolivia and eastern Peru and Ecuador, and probably also southern Colombia, Venezuela and the Guyanas, mostly near rivers and from sea level to 1,400 metres. It eats rodents and other small mammals and has been reported to swim in rivers and estuaries. It had been registered only 24 times by July 2024 and was first filmed in 2024 in Bolivia, yet the IUCN lists it as Least Concern because a sizable population is believed to remain.