4 Comments

  • Morgan Churchill

    For what it is worth, Japanese Weasel is suppose to be easy on Miyake-jima Island, where they are introduced. I didn’t get to make it to this island on my Japan visit, but a friend in the same fellowship program as me did and saw them there.

  • Maurice Tijm

    Nice photos! I think this might be another species. Just found out that Siberian Weasel is introduced to South Japan and is doing well (Kyushu,
    Shikoku, and western Honshu, see: http://www1.unifi.it/caryologia/past_volumes/53_3_4/13.pdf). This sighting is in southern Kyushu, where both species occur. BTW until 2000 Japanese Weasel was considered a subspecies of Siberian Weasel.

    I cannot find information on separating both species in the field but looking at the facial masks in HBMW:Carnivores (Plate 36, p.648) this one looks more like a Siberian Weasel. So, ór both weasels are very difficult to tell apart in the field ór Japanese weasel photos on google are misidentified.

    I hope someone else can make a definitive judgement on this issue?

  • PandaSmith

    Just came back from Hokkaido – Yoroushi Onsen to be exact. We came across 7-8 Japanese Weasels frequenting the bird feeders over the two days there. Very cool. I will have our trip report up in a week or two…Evidently they are common in the region…

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