Identifying stoats, weasels and their relatives.

The weasel, stoat, pine martin, polecat, mink and otter are all members of the weasel family(mustelidae), and resemble each other in build, colouring  or behaviour. All are very active hunters with long, sinuous bodies and comparatively short legs. They often sit upright on their haunches to look round, and when moving fast they gradually bound along with the back arched. Males are usually upto fifty per cent bigger than females. Confusion is most likely between the squirrel-sized stoat, especially a young one, and the smaller weasel. It is possible to confuse the pine martin, polecat and mink(all three roughly cat size), and perhaps also a swimming mink and swimming otter- the otter is much larger but its size is not obvious in the water. But each has certain distinguishing characteristics, and usually can also be identified from its habitat, although the stoat and weasel are found in most types of the country. The mink and otter are likely to be seen in or near water, the polecat on farmland or lower hill slopes and the pine martin only in remote northern forests or moors in Scotland (although they are rumoured to be back in Wales). The pine martin, polecat and otter are mainly active at night, the stoat, weasel and mink can be seen during the day. Polecat identification can be confusing because of the existence of polecat- ferrets(descendants of feral ferrets), whose colouring can vary from pale to dark.