Long-tailed Weasel, Point Reyes National Seashore
A long-tailed weasel looks for its next meal on the Tomales Peninsula. Long-tailed weasels have a high metabolism and eat up to 40% of their body weight in food every day. They are nocturnal. Their diet consists mainly of rodents which they pursue into and through their burrows. In the northern portion of their range they molt to white in winter, but the tip of the tail remains black.
The Park Service also lists the short-tailed weasel as an inhabitant of Point Reyes. They are about 1/2 the size of a long-tail, have shorter tails in relation to their body length, and have white bellies. They can also molt to white with black tail tip. It is the short-tail weasel that is also known as ermine.
Here is another look at our energetic hunter as it emerges from a rodent hole. These animals do not stand still for long.
