Long-tailed weasel

The long-tailed weasel, Neogale frenata, also known as the bridled weasel, masked ermine or big stoat, is a weasel found in North, Central and South America. It is distinct from the short-tailed weasel, or stoat, a close relative in the genus Mustela that originated in Eurasia and crossed into North America some half a million years ago, although the two look alike, with long slender bodies, long tails, short legs and a black tail tip. Long-tailed weasels favor forest patches, fencerows and drainage ditches and avoid agricultural fields, and they typically live in forests and underground in burrows made by other small mammals. It is an obligate carnivore that prefers fresh or live prey, kills with a bite to the neck, and marks its territory by dragging and rubbing its body over surfaces to leave scent.