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Pale weasel Mustela altaica Pallas, 1811

Distribution

In India the pale weasel is distributed in the Himalayas at an altitude ranging from 1,500 m up to 3,960 m from Ladakh in the western Himalayas through Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (Garhwal) up to Sikkim (Pocock 1941). Outside India it has been reported from Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, western and northern China, Tibet and Korea (Roberts 1977, Wozencraft 1993).

Description

Pale weasel is a typical weasel with a long cylindrical body, long neck, short legs and long but not very bushy tail, which lacks blackish tip like the ermine M. erminea. The tail is more than half the length of the head and body. It is slightly bigger in size than the ermine and has a narrow flattened skull. The general colour of the upper surface is from brighter yellow or dull sandy to little darker and browner, but never bright ochre. The colour of the limbs is like that of the back but the paws are whitish and contrasted. The colour of the tail is also like the back throughout. The ventrum is typically pale primrose yellow or cream and sharply demarcated from the tint of the upper side along the flanks and side of the neck. From the abdomen and chest the white extends along the inner surface of the limbs, and the edge of the upper lip up to the rhinarium. Three specimens from Pakistan had the head and body length averaging 256 mm, varying from 227-276 mm and the tail length averaging 138 mm, varying from 118 to 155 mm. Pocock (1941) gives the measurements of nine specimens from Ladakh, Lahaul and Garhwal, which had an average head and body length of 243 mm and tail length of 159 mm. A specimen captured from Lahaul weighed 127 gm (Roberts 1977).

The Indian subspecies is M. altaica temon Hodgson, 1857 (Pocock 1941).

Behaviour

Very little is known about the habits of the pale weasel. It prefers sparse forest vegetation and predominantly open landscape (Kruska 1990). It lives amongst rocks and is believed to be exclusively carnivorous, preying mainly upon pika Ochotona roylei and migratory hamsters Cricetulus migratorius and voles of the genus Alticola. In summer they can supplement their diet with lizards (Roberts 1977) and birds (Pocock 1941). Probably they are capable of excavating their own burrows. Pocock (1941) records that the Russian population in Altai mountains mates in February, producing its litter in May and that the litter sizes do not exceed five. A lactating female was captured in Lahaul in September. Possibly there are two litters during the season. There appears to be no evidence of delayed implantation in this species (Roberts 1977).

Conservation status

It is listed in Schedule II part II of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Appendix III of CITES, and DD during the CAMP Workshop.

| Introduction | Mustelids | Viverrids | Herpestids | 
| Conservation Significance | References |