Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, it's time to admit that we've done
Speaker 1: weasels wrong. In the English speaking world, someone who's a sneak,
Speaker 1: a cutthroat, or a liar isn't called a tiger, for example,
Speaker 1: or an apossum. No, these unsavory characters get branded as weasels.
Speaker 1: We've also turned the word weasel into an equally unsavory verb.
Speaker 1: To weasel your way out of something is to deceitfully
Speaker 1: avoid it, and anti weasel sentiments extend far beyond linguistics.
Speaker 1: Lots of children's books and animation have had these tubular
Speaker 1: mammals play sleazy bad guys, possibly rooting from the nineteen
Speaker 1: oh eight novel The Wind in the Willows and its
Speaker 1: partial adaptation Disney's nineteen forty nine film The Adventures of
Speaker 1: Ichabod and Mister Toad, then spinning through everything from The
Speaker 1: Berenstain Bears to Who Framed Roger Rabbit to Zutopia. Weasels
Speaker 1: were even deemed bad omens in ancient Greece. Some of
Speaker 1: their image problems harken back to common misconceptions. Others have
Speaker 1: more nuanced roots. Today, let's talk about weasels in general
Speaker 1: and their most adoptable varieties ferrets. Weasels are various species
Speaker 1: of nimble, long bodied mammalian predators that belong to the
Speaker 1: taxonomic subfamily Mastellani and the genera Mastella and Neo gala I.
Speaker 1: Tried to look it up. Couldn't find a pronunciation, y'all
Speaker 1: let me know anyway. Different species hail from Eurasia, the Americas,
Speaker 1: and North Africa. The word weasel can be a little
Speaker 1: confusing just from a classification standpoint. Some people restrict weasel
Speaker 1: to refer to one particular species, the least weasel, but
Speaker 1: also animals from different generaly get called weasels sometimes, and
Speaker 1: related animals like badgers and otters are in what's called
Speaker 1: the weasel family, also referred to as mustelids. Furthermore, classification
Speaker 1: is something that scientists seem to enjoy arguing about, and
Speaker 1: a few species have been moved in and out of
Speaker 1: the subfamily mistinally over time. But for our purposes today,
Speaker 1: we're defining true weasels as mistellane species, including weasels, polecats, minx, stoats,
Speaker 1: and ferrets. Around twenty species and one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: subspecies around the world. Weasels are adept hunters that evolved
Speaker 1: with small, thin, long bodies with sleek fur and short
Speaker 1: legs that allow them to chase burrowing rodents down narrow tunnels.
Speaker 1: They tend to have delicate, pointed faces and small, rounded ears.
Speaker 1: Different species will grow to different sizes. Polecats and ferrets
Speaker 1: tend to be on the bigger side, growing to about
Speaker 1: twenty inches in length that's fifty centimeters from the tip
Speaker 1: of their nose to the tip of their tail, though
Speaker 1: the tail can account for about a quarter to a
Speaker 1: third of that length. They might weigh up two four
Speaker 1: and a half pounds or two kilos. Other weasels rival
Speaker 1: beanie babies in size. The aforementioned and aptly named least
Speaker 1: weasel has a maximum length of just eight and a
Speaker 1: half inches or around twenty two centimeters, and its average
Speaker 1: weight is just two ounces or fifty five grams. These
Speaker 1: animals have evolved differing fur colors and patterns to help
Speaker 1: them survive in their varied environments. Their fur can be
Speaker 1: anything from loamy brown to earthy red, to grassy gold
Speaker 1: to snowy white, sometimes with darker patterning on their feet
Speaker 1: and tails along their backs or in bands on their
Speaker 1: faces to help confuse their predators. Some even change their
Speaker 1: fur color with the changing seasons to help them blend in.
Speaker 1: When the days shorten or lengthen, it can trigger hormone
Speaker 1: changes that spur a snow colored coat in the winter
Speaker 1: and a darker one in the summer. Ferrets, which are domesticated,
Speaker 1: are often bred for particular coloration, from blonde to black,
Speaker 1: and some of those patterns on weasels faces do slightly
Speaker 1: resemble a bandit's mask, perhaps adding to their reputation. One
Speaker 1: thing weasels all have in common is their sky high
Speaker 1: metabolic rates. Unlike say, bears, weasels can't depend on long
Speaker 1: term fat reserves. Because staying lean in order to tunnel
Speaker 1: is a matter of survival, weasels don't put on a
Speaker 1: lot of body fat, and without thick fur coats, they
Speaker 1: struggle to retain body heat. So to meet their energy
Speaker 1: needs and stay warm, weasels burn a lot of fuel.
Speaker 1: This forces them to process meals very rapidly. As such,
Speaker 1: many species must consume twenty to forty percent of their
Speaker 1: body weight and food every day. In addition to rodents,
Speaker 1: weasels will also eat rabbits, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and various invertebrates,
Speaker 1: basically anything they can get their paws on, including animals
Speaker 1: much larger than themselves. They're good climbers too, and will
Speaker 1: prey on eggs or young in nests. Back in twenty fifteen,
Speaker 1: photographer Martin LeMay even captured an image of a least
Speaker 1: weasel riding on the back of an airborne woodpecker. It
Speaker 1: looks like a dragon rider on its colorful steed, but
Speaker 1: this was no joy ride. It was an attempt at predation. Evidently,
Speaker 1: the weasel attacked the bird while it was grounded, setting
Speaker 1: off an aerial rodeo. LeMay reported that this woodpecker managed
Speaker 1: to escape, but other birds aren't so lucky. Even predatory
Speaker 1: raptors can fall victim to the ferocity of weasels. From
Speaker 1: time to time, eagles or buzzards will swoop down and
Speaker 1: snatch up a weasel, hoping to score a quick meal.
Speaker 1: But if the weasel manages to reach up and bite
Speaker 1: its captor on the neck or chest, the mammal might
Speaker 1: not only survive the encounter, but turn the tables and
Speaker 1: eat its attacker. Among chicken farmers, weasels are notorious for
Speaker 1: killing prized birds and making off with their eggs. Therein
Speaker 1: lies a popular misconception or technicality. Animals like the short
Speaker 1: tailed weasel will put a small hole into an egg
Speaker 1: and then lap up the contents as they come oozing out.
Speaker 1: But what it won't do is actively suck out the
Speaker 1: yolks and the whites, like some kind of breakfast vampire. However,
Speaker 1: famous folks from William Shakespeare in writing Henry the Fifth
Speaker 1: to Theodore Roosevelt in a speech from nineteen sixteen have
Speaker 1: referred to weasel's sucking eggs. To be fair, it is
Speaker 1: more vivid imagery than lapping eggs. Roosevelt was using this
Speaker 1: image as a metaphor. He said, one of our defects
Speaker 1: as a nation is a tendency to use what have
Speaker 1: been called weasel words. When a weasel sucks eggs, the
Speaker 1: meat is sucked out of the egg. If you use
Speaker 1: a weasel word after another, there's nothing left of the other.
Speaker 1: The image of an empty eggshell here is an echo
Speaker 1: of the hollow vague language used by some politicians to
Speaker 1: avoid or weasel out of accountability. Weasel Words have their
Speaker 1: meanings sucked out Roosevelt liked this phrase and helped popularize it.
Speaker 1: But of course we can't blame Shakespeare and Roosevelt for
Speaker 1: all of weasel's pr problems. Historically, weasels have often found
Speaker 1: themselves at odds with farmers of animals like chickens. These
Speaker 1: tubular creatures can slip into chicken coops through unprotected holes
Speaker 1: in the floor walls. Once inside, they can raid the
Speaker 1: nests or attack the birds themselves. Most weasels do prefer
Speaker 1: rodents to chickens, which means weasels can actually benefit farmers
Speaker 1: by retting the premises of vermin and by providing an
Speaker 1: alternative to chicken for any larger predators in the area
Speaker 1: like foxes or hawks. But finding empty eggs and the
Speaker 1: occasional remains of an unlucky bird doesn't endear weasels to farmers,
Speaker 1: so it's no wonder that weasels have come to be
Speaker 1: known as sneaky devious creatures. They also got a reputation
Speaker 1: for being bloodthirsty or vicious because of those high metabolisms.
Speaker 1: They'll often wrangle more food than they can eat in
Speaker 1: a single sitting and store the extra in cash sites
Speaker 1: such as abandoned animal burrows. This is a behavior that's
Speaker 1: considered cute when squirrels do it with acorns, but feels
Speaker 1: a little weirder to us when the cash is say
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty dead voles dashed away for future meals.
Speaker 1: From an evolutionary standpoint, that impulse to kill extra game
Speaker 1: makes perfect sense. Everyone likes a full pantry. It's also
Speaker 1: the reason why weasels have been known to slaughter every
Speaker 1: chicken in sight upon entering a coop and then disappear
Speaker 1: without eating them. They were probably hoping to save the
Speaker 1: birds for later, but couldn't get them out of the coop.
Speaker 1: A weasel's also don't suck blood, though the bite marks
Speaker 1: they might leave on chicken necks do put us in
Speaker 1: mind of vampires. Again, that's just an effective place for
Speaker 1: them to bite to stop their prey from fighting back. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: there are steps chicken breeders can take to prevent these
Speaker 1: incidents from occurring, like keeping coops raised off the ground
Speaker 1: to prevent burrowing, and making sure there are no holes
Speaker 1: in the coup greater than an inch wide that's about
Speaker 1: two and a half centimeters, which includes being shared of
Speaker 1: patch any holes nod by rodents However, there are some
Speaker 1: places where weasels simply don't belong. In New Zealand, introduced
Speaker 1: least weasels have been taking a serious chunk out of
Speaker 1: native bird populations. The government is actively removing these unwelcome guests,
Speaker 1: but combating invasive species is always a difficult job. While
Speaker 1: New Zealand's weasels are causing real harm and should be
Speaker 1: dealt with, that doesn't justify Western societies centuries long disdain
Speaker 1: for mustelids as a whole. Ye. Yes, weasels are crafty
Speaker 1: little beasts with healthy appetites. That's what makes them so
Speaker 1: richly important to their native ecosystems, and where and when appropriate,
Speaker 1: so fascinating as pets. We're going to get into that,
Speaker 1: but first we're going to get into a quick break
Speaker 1: for a word from our sponsors, and we're back, Thank
Speaker 1: you sponsors. Okay, most weasels should be left alone in nature. However,
Speaker 1: fans of the domesticated ferret love their playful, friendly personalities.
Speaker 1: Ferrets are known to be affectionate and very smart, which
Speaker 1: they demonstrate by being leash and litter trainable. They're quiet
Speaker 1: animals and sleep about eighteen hours a day. They're not
Speaker 1: nocturnal unless their owners are. They tend to adjust their
Speaker 1: sleep schedules to match their owners. You could put considerate
Speaker 1: in the pro column of getting a pet ferret, but
Speaker 1: high maintenance is perhaps a lot larger factor. To get
Speaker 1: an ample amount of exercise and stimulation, ferrets need several
Speaker 1: hours a day of supervised time outside of a cage. However,
Speaker 1: because they're natural burrowers and like to slip between or
Speaker 1: under things and hide, it's a good idea to ferret
Speaker 1: proof the areas they have access to. Doors should be
Speaker 1: kept closed, cabinets inaccessible, small spaces blocked off, including under
Speaker 1: and behind appliances like your fridge or washing machine. Also,
Speaker 1: anything small or that you just care about like socks, shoes, keys,
Speaker 1: and cords should be kept away. Ferrets will chew, hoard,
Speaker 1: and hide little pieces of anything they find. The word
Speaker 1: ferret is most likely derived from Latin words meaning thief
Speaker 1: or robber, but yes, they love to chew everything, especially
Speaker 1: anything rubber or foam, which can be dangerous because pieces
Speaker 1: they swallow can cause intestinal obstruction. As so critters, ferrets
Speaker 1: enjoy and need interaction with their owners and ideally with
Speaker 1: ferret friends. In other words, if you're getting one ferret,
Speaker 1: you might as well get too wild. Weasels, in contrast,
Speaker 1: tend to be solitary animals. They'll come together to mate,
Speaker 1: and female weasels will care for their kits for a
Speaker 1: few months, but they don't run in packs. When household
Speaker 1: ferrets aren't enjoying supervised free time, they should be in
Speaker 1: housing to keep them safe and prevent damage from their
Speaker 1: mischievous behavior, A multi level cage is best, especially if
Speaker 1: you own more than one ferret. Other basic needs include
Speaker 1: quality ferret food, which can be found in pet stores, water,
Speaker 1: perhaps obviously, a toys and a hammock, small hideout or
Speaker 1: sleeping bag which might be less obvious, but they do
Speaker 1: love to burrow. Oh, and be aware. Ferrets tend to
Speaker 1: have a bit of a musky smell. These animals do
Speaker 1: need to live indoors because they're prone to heatstroke, have
Speaker 1: very poor vision, and are nonetheless fearless. Experts advise against
Speaker 1: having ferrets in a home with very young children due
Speaker 1: to that nibbling done by the ferrets, not the children.
Speaker 1: Nor a home with cats or dogs. Even friendly animals
Speaker 1: could easily hurt a ferret when they're playing. Ferrets are
Speaker 1: banned as pets by some local governments, generally based on misinformation.
Speaker 1: There's a fear that pet ferrets could escape and form
Speaker 1: wild populations that would either upset natural ecosystems or spread rabies.
Speaker 1: But ferrets, unlike say cats or dogs, cannot survive in
Speaker 1: the wild, and rabies is very rare in ferrets. There's
Speaker 1: never actually been a case of a ferret transmitting rabies
Speaker 1: to a human. However, you should ferret out local regulations
Speaker 1: before adopting any pet. A vet or wildlife organization can
Speaker 1: help you figure out what you need to do or
Speaker 1: not do. The phrase ferret out, by the way, it
Speaker 1: comes from the medieval practice of using ferrets to kill
Speaker 1: vermin or hunt rat by flushing them out of their burrows.
Speaker 1: One other bit of behavior that's common to wild weasels
Speaker 1: and tame ferrets is what sometimes called the weasel war dance.
Speaker 1: This is a frantic sort of hopping, bouncing flail that
Speaker 1: can seem alarming, like a seizure or maybe a display
Speaker 1: of aggression. They'll puff their tail out, arch their spine,
Speaker 1: toss their head, and often make a clucking noise known
Speaker 1: in the ferret hobby as a duke faster and louder
Speaker 1: as they go. In the wild, this is sometimes observed
Speaker 1: right before a weasel strikes it prey. The weasel is
Speaker 1: perhaps performing this playlike motion on purpose to interest or
Speaker 1: confuse its prey and allow it to get with in
Speaker 1: biting distance. But in captive ferrets this dance is well
Speaker 1: known as the mustulid equivalent of the zoomies, a chaotic
Speaker 1: expression of positive excitement and an invitation to join in
Speaker 1: the play. Today's episode is based on the articles how
Speaker 1: did Weasels get such a Bad Rap? By Mark Mancini
Speaker 1: and Ferrets Are Mischievous Loyal affectionate Pets by Max Barwick,
Speaker 1: both on how Stuffworks dot Com. Brain Stuff is production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is
Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Quaying. Four more podcasts my heart Radio
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts for wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.