Chinese ferret-badger

The Chinese ferret-badger, Melogale moschata, also called the small-toothed ferret-badger, is a mustelid found across a wide part of Southeast Asia, from northeast India north to central China and south to northern Indochina. The Formosan ferret-badger of Taiwan was once treated as the same species but is now regarded as distinct. Mask-like face markings set it apart from most other oriental mustelids, and an average animal measures 33 to 43 centimetres with a tail of 15 to 23 centimetres. It lives in grassland, open forest and tropical rainforest, tolerates people well, and may rest in agricultural land and in human-made sites such as firewood stacks and rock piles. It is active at dusk and at night, climbs well, and feeds on fruit, insects, small animals and worms. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern, and although it is among the most hunted fur-bearing animals in southern China it keeps relatively high population densities.