“During the New Year holidays, we decided to spend time in nature in the mountains. While climbing the snowy forest trail, we suddenly noticed a small, fast creature — a weasel, which jumped out from the bushes. It seems that our noise attracted it as we moved through the winter forest. It showed curiosity,” shared Yuri Gorbenko, a nature enthusiast and active recreation lover from the village of Ananyevo.
Ecologist Alexander Sosnovsky added:
“The weasel is a widely distributed species in Kyrgyzstan and seems to have been specially designed by nature for the extermination of rodents. In summer, its coloration is ochre-brown with a white belly, while in winter it becomes completely white, except for the black tip of its tail. This predator is the smallest among the mustelids and one of the smallest carnivorous mammals in the country. The least weasel weighs about 100 grams, while the stoat can reach 200 grams. Despite its small size, it poses a real threat to all mouse-like rodents. Mice can hide from other predators underground, but they cannot escape the weasel: it finds and destroys them even in their burrows. This predator does not stop day or night, continuing to hunt even after it is full. There are cases where entire caches of trophies — the bodies of voles with only their brains eaten — are found under stones. The weasel tracks mice and voles even in dense forests and high altitudes, and in winter it spends time with them under the snow. Due to this proximity, by spring, the population of mice and voles significantly decreases. Interestingly, weasel fur coats were previously considered a symbol of royal power, made from hundreds of light and durable pelts of these animals.”
