Least weasel
Mustela nivalis
The smallest carnivore: a long brown body, white belly, and a short tail without a black tip. It is a native resident in Georgia.
At a glance
Key facts in one look
Diet
Rodents
Status in Georgia
Resident
Size
13–26 cm
Habitat
Grass / edge / mountain
Family
Mustelidae
Conservation
LC
Human interaction: It has no venom. It can bite if handled. Any wild mammal can theoretically carry rabies; Georgian literature names fox, jackal, wolf, and dogs as the main sources, not this species. Do not feed or handle it.
Overview
What is Least weasel
The least weasel (Mustela nivalis) is a mammal in the weasel family (Mustelidae) and a native resident in Georgia. IUCN lists Georgia in the native range. It appears on national mammal checklists. It is the smallest member of the order Carnivora. At species level, head–body length is about 13–26 cm and the tail is relatively short. It has no venom. The main human risk is a bite if handled, not poison. IUCN lists it as Least Concern. It is not treated on this page as a threatened taxon on Georgia’s 2014 Red List.
Last updated
Gallery
Least weasel in photos
Photo: ზაური ხაჩიძე
Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park ·
Photo: ზაური ხაჩიძე
Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park ·
Photo: Davidruiz91
Sierra de Grazalema ·
Photo: Jean Andrieux
Vercors ·
Photo: Jerzy Strzelecki
Łódź ·
Photo: Santiago Martín-Bravo
Photo: Richenza
South Bohemia ·
Identification
How to identify Least weasel
A small, elongated brown predator with a white belly and a short tail without a black tip. It is resident in Georgia.
- 01
At species level head–body is about 13–26 cm, the tail about 1.5–9 cm, and mass often from a few tens of grams to about 250 g. Abramov and Baryshnikov give Caucasian (M. n. caucasica) males 176–265 mm head–body, with the tail about 30% of body length. Males are usually larger than females. There is no separate measured Georgian series on this page. The head is flat and narrow, the neck long, the legs short, and the ears rounded.
- 02
The back, flanks, outer legs, and tail are brown, from dark chocolate to pale sandy. The belly, throat, and inner legs are white. The brown–white line may be straight or irregular; Abramov notes mostly “nivalis”-type (straighter) colour in the Caucasus, with “vulgaris”-type also present. The tail tip may be slightly darker but is not black. That is the main field mark against the stoat (Mustela erminea).
- 03
The stoat is on some Georgian checklists (Eliava et al. 2007, NE). It is larger and always has a black tail tip, including in the white winter coat. This atlas has no stoat page yet; frequency in Georgia is not mapped here. Beech marten (Martes foina) and pine marten (Martes martes) are much larger, with a bushy tail, and are more typically arboreal. A red fox is dog-like, not an elongated weasel.
- 04
It is not venomous. Do not handle it. A small brown animal moving like a snake along a wall or in a garden, with a white belly, is more likely this species than a marten.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
In Georgia look for it in rank grass, scrub, farmland, woodland edges, rocky ground, and mountains where rodents are present. Species-level habitat is broad: meadow, hedgerow, farmland, riparian woodland, steppe, and alpine meadow. It avoids open coverless ground, where raptors see it easily. Sheffield and King name the Caucasus among low-latitude ranges where it lives year-round to about 3,660 m; that is a Caucasus-level figure, not a measured Georgian belt. This page does not map administrative regions. Named Georgian points are Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, 25 May 2015 (photographs by ზაური ხაჩიძე on this page); Lagodekhi (Kurose et al. 2005, genetic sample N18); the Kvesheti–Kobi road corridor mammal survey, Lots 1 and 2 (2019); and a garden in Telavi in August 2025 (a trip report, not a peer-reviewed paper). Do not assume even density across the whole country.
Diet
There is no separate Georgian diet study on this page. Across the range it is a specialist hunter of small rodents, especially voles and mice. It occasionally takes birds’ eggs and nestlings, young lagomorphs, lizards, frogs, insects, and carrion. Its small size lets it follow prey into burrows. The realistic picture in Georgia is the same — small rodents in grass and at woodland edges — but the local menu has not been measured here.
Behavior
It is active by day and at night; captures are often by day, but activity is not limited to one period. It moves in quick bounds and often stands on the hind legs to look around. It rarely digs its own den: it takes a rodent burrow, a rock pile, or other cover. At species level gestation is about 34–37 days, without delayed implantation (unlike the stoat). In temperate parts of the range one or two litters a year are common, usually with several young. Those figures come from the wider range, not a Georgian den sample. Northern populations turn white in winter; in the south the winter coat often stays brown. The Borjomi-Kharagauli photographs of 25 May 2015 show an individual in brown-and-white summer pelage. Do not assume a white winter form in Georgia — a winter series is not on this page. Vocalisations are uncommon and no Georgian recording is on this page; the clip is xeno-canto XC1146321 (Jose Manuel Unanue, Mendaro, Spain, 13 June 2026), marked uncertain by the recordist.
Conservation
McDonald and co-authors assess Mustela nivalis as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (2016 assessment, 2019 amended version); the range is wide and the population large. Eliava et al. 2007 list it as LC in Georgia. It is not treated on this page as a threatened taxon on Georgia’s 2014 Red List (Government Resolution No. 190). It is not on CITES appendices at species level. Unlike the red fox, it is not cited here as a hunting species. Local pressures can include rodenticide (secondary poisoning is documented at species level), habitat loss, and road mortality; a national trend is not measured on this page. Do not handle wild animals.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about Least weasel.
Yes. IUCN lists it as native in Georgia. It is on national mammal checklists.
In rank grass, scrub, farmland, woodland edges, and mountains where rodents are present. Named points are Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park (photographs, 25 May 2015), Lagodekhi, the Kvesheti–Kobi corridor, and one garden sighting in Telavi. This page does not map every region.
Small elongated brown body, white belly, short tail without a black tip. A stoat has a black tail tip. A marten is much larger.
At species level head–body is about 13–26 cm. Abramov gives Caucasian males 176–265 mm. There is no separate measured Georgian series on this page.
Mainly small rodents. Diet has not been studied separately in Georgia on this page.
By day and at night. It is resident and does not migrate like many birds.
Rarely heard. The clip on this page is from Spain (xeno-canto XC1146321) and is marked uncertain by the recordist; there is no Georgian recording here.
It is not venomous. It can bite if handled. Do not pick it up.
It is globally Least Concern. Eliava et al. 2007 list it as LC in Georgia. It is not treated on this page as a threatened taxon on the 2014 Red List.
- McDonald et al. 2019 — IUCN Red List, Mustela nivalis
- Bukhnikashvili & Kandaurov 2002 — The annotated list of mammals of Georgia
- Eliava et al. 2007 — New data on animal biodiversity of Georgia
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
- Abramov & Baryshnikov 2000 — Geographic variation of Mustela nivalis
- Sheffield & King 1994 — Mammalian Species 454, Mustela nivalis
- Kurose, Abramov & Masuda 2005 — Phylogeography of M. erminea and M. nivalis
- Kvesheti–Kobi road project, Appendix Y — mammal survey (2019)
- Weidner 2025 — Georgia and Armenia mammal trip report (Telavi)
- ASM Mammal Diversity Database — Mustela nivalis
- EUNIS — Mustela nivalis
- ილიაუნის მულტიტერმი — სინდიოფალა, დედოფალა
- ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, ტ. 3 (1978) — დედოფალა
- ზაური ხაჩიძე — დედოფალა, ბორჯომ-ხარაგაულის ეროვნული პარკი (2015-05-25)
- xeno-canto XC1146321 — Mustela nivalis (Jose Manuel Unanue, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; ID uncertain)
- Wikimedia Commons — Belette pygmée, Vercors (Jean Andrieux, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Comadreja, Grazalema (Davidruiz91, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Least weasel, Łódź (Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY 3.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Lasice kolčava juvenile (Richenza, CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Least weasel, iNaturalist (Santiago Martín-Bravo, CC BY 4.0)
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Related guides
