For a long time, people's feelings about weasels have been quite complicated. As a small carnivore, the weasel mainly lives by preying on rats, but has been wronged for occasionally giving chickens raised by farmers "New Year's greetings", and unfortunately bears the ancient name of "chicken thieves". On the other hand, it may be due to its slender posture and eccentric habits, and has been covered with a layer of mystery, the folk believe that the weasel is a very spiritual animal, and honored as "Wong Tai Sin", and there are countless strange legends about them, so people are also in awe and fear of the weasel.
Weasels, officially known as weasels in Chinese, are mammals of the genus Mustela in the family Carnivorous mustels of the mammalian order Mustelidae. In the whole family of ferrets, they are the most famous and representative species, distributed in major provinces and cities across the country, from inaccessible mountains and forests, to village fields, to reinforced concrete city streets, they can be seen. Like sparrows and magpies, weasels have taken deep roots in humans and are arguably the closest wild carnivorous mammals in our lives.
Adult weasels have slender, soft and elastic bodies, short limbs, weigh about 1 kg, body length 30-50 cm, tail length 14-25 cm, coat color varies with the season, but overall it is orange-yellow, the face is russet, and the mouth and nose are white. Two small black eyes were crystal clear and sparkling. Weasels in the northern region breed in April-June every year, and in the south in February-April, they like to nest in firewood piles, wooden gaps, wall/rat holes, and each litter is generally 2-3 baby ferrets, and more than 8 can be reached!
The fur of the weasel has a high economic value, was once an important export commodity of our country, fur can be made into fur coats, and tail hair is the superior raw material for making wolf pens. The weasel fur is the best when the snow is in winter, when they have only recently changed into winter clothes, with a golden, thick and soft hair, long and unkempt tail hair, so in the previous winter leisure period, they were often hunted by farmers. Nowadays, weasels have been included in the "three haves" protected animals ("List of terrestrial wild animals protected by the state that are beneficial or have important economic and scientific research value"), and private hunting will be punished by law.
For me, from childhood to adulthood, weasels were just creatures living in legends, never seen with their own eyes before going to college, and the rumors I heard came mainly from the gossip of the elders, so there was a strong sense of awe for this animal. It was not until the later years of studying at Peking University that I was fortunate to encounter such strange little creatures more frequently on campus, and I had a better understanding of their haunting rules.
Campus chapter
Weasels are mainly active at night, and they can be seen unexpectedly whether they are walking or cycling on campus, for example, under the street lamps of the teaching building\dormitory building, at the entrance of the canteen, by the unnamed lake and the quiet garden area in the north, and even at the door of the hot pot shop outside the west gate of the school. In the hazy night, they sometimes bounced and looked around not far from me; sometimes they transformed into a black shadow, crossing the road like lightning, and by the time I reacted, it had long since disappeared.
When I go to school, I photograph the night scene on campus, and in the quiet of the night, I can often encounter them wandering in the middle of the road or in the lawn, smelling and smelling, and from time to time standing upright to observe the movements around them. These little guys are alert, but curious. If I had stood still for a long time, it might have been staring at me for a long time not far away, and as soon as I was about to move closer to it, it quickly slipped away as soon as the front foot stepped out.
Once late at night to see the fireflies on the embankment of the school Mirror Spring Garden, it may be that the noise made when wandering is small, did not disturb the surroundings, a small ferret suddenly sprang out of the grass, and actually sniffed my toes curiously, at that time, my heart was tight, and I did not dare to move. What a wonderful late-night encounter.
Mirror Spring Garden Earth Embankment
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > trash can</h1>
Weasels on campus are much happier than wild populations. In terms of food sources, curbside trash cans are a bottom-up option. It's more like their "late-night canteen", where they occasionally come to visit in addition to their regular hunting and catch some delicious after-dinner desserts, such as bread slices and some leftovers. In the harsh winter months, roadside bins play a more important role so that they do not starve because they cannot catch their prey, thereby reducing mortality.
They generally choose to jump into the trash in the dead of night. One night, I rode a bicycle from the office back to the dormitory, stopped by the unnamed lake to sort out the backpack, but the sound of the brakes accidentally disturbed the weasel in the roadside garbage can, only to hear a clanging noise in the garbage can, the huge garbage can was hit by it and shook, but it could not jump out, may be frightened by the sudden sound of the brakes. Finally managed to jump out, ran not far away, stared at me for a while, and then quickly burrowed into the crevice of the stone.
When it comes to hunting, weasels have a keen sense of smell and excellent night vision. When walking, you can smell the birds in the trees and accurately determine whether there are rats in the rat hole. But because there are fewer rats on campus, they are more likely to climb trees in search of nocturnal birds. Many students said in the past that late at night in the unnamed lake to see the small squirrel climbing trees, that is actually the wrongly recognized weasel, squirrels can not be active at night, and the face of the weasel and squirrels are a bit similar, and they all have a big furry tail, for inexperienced students, it is easy to be confused in the night.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > vicious cat bullying</h1>
In almost every college, there is a certain number of stray cats. Their cute and well-behaved gestures add a little warmth to the campus of NUO University, and they are also cared for by caring people.
Photographed in Jingchun Garden
However, stray cats are typical invasive alien organisms in China, not part of the indigenous ecosystem, they have a strong predatory ability, and especially like to kill, known as "ecological killers". Therefore, the presence of stray cats seriously threatens the survival of other native species, such as the large-scale hunting of native birds, which makes the already fragile campus ecosystem worse.
The stray cat had a sparrow in its mouth that had just come out of its nest. Photographed in Langrun Garden
Weasels are not immune to this carnivore, which is much smaller than cats and is often chased or even killed by the latter. The increase in the number of stray cats in the city is constantly compressing the living space of weasels.
Stared at the Mandarin duck on the shore. Taken on the shores of Langrun Lake
Once walking in the Mirror Spring Garden at night, I suddenly heard sharp animal calls from the grass on the side of the road, similar to the sound of "nourishing", following the prestige, I actually saw a rare scene - two weasels were confronting a big yellow cat, and the sharp cry was made by the weasel. The two weasels are about the same size, probably a couple.
Then the cat stared at one of them, and the two of them sped through the road and the grass on both sides, going back and forth, while the other stood on the big rocks in the grass and looked at them and barked anxiously. The most incredible thing is that on several occasions, the chased weasel actually ran under my feet, as if begging for my help, which was really amazing. You know, as a small carnivore, the weasel is usually very afraid of humans, so in this case it should be far away from me.
Jingchun Garden, the place where the incident occurred at that time.
For the first time in my life, I experienced the spirit of a weasel, and I couldn't calm down afterwards. In order to help the weasel out of the siege, I chased the evil cat in the back, constantly shouting "Mimi Mimi" in my mouth, trying to distract it. When I chased under the low tree by the pond, the evil cat suddenly stopped chasing, it turned out to be, began to shovel the pit in place, so I quickly stepped forward, blocked the view of the cat in front of me, and touched it a few times. By this time the weasel that was being chased had long since disappeared, and the other one no longer made a call-like cry, and the couple should have converged and left together.
That evil cat
At present, the school cat association is actively carrying out cat feeding and neutering work, which is good for improving the life of cats and the ecological environment of the campus, and may there be fewer and fewer incidents of stray cats chasing wild small animals.
He was climbing a tree to pick up birds, and was besieged by magpies and gray magpies
Since I started photographing birds, I have gained a deeper understanding of the ecology and species of the campus, and found that the weasel is also very active during the day, but its whereabouts are still haunted, and it takes a certain amount of luck to meet.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > yellow and white two immortal fighting method</h1>
After a period of observation, I found that the range of a weasel was roughly between Jingchun Garden and Langrun Garden, and the stone arch bridge connecting the two gardens was the only way for it to move every day.
During the bridge patrol
One afternoon, in the grass on the side of the Mirror Spring Garden by the stone bridge, I saw it bouncing around a small patch of grass. I looked at the other end of the stone bridge (on the side of Langrun Garden), but the grass was too high to see what was inside. Later, it gave up and prepared to cross the bridge to my side, but when it found me on the other side, it did not rush to leave, but always looked for opportunities and still wanted to run to my side, why it chose to take a risk, at that time it was difficult to understand. So I chose to give way, and it sped over and disappeared into the grass of Langrun Garden.
I walked across the bridge to see where it had just been spinning, and it turned out to be a hedgehog, frightened and shrunk into a ball, still trembling in place. I don't realize the classic afterword: The weasel eats the hedgehog - there is no way to bite.
Frightened, he shrank into a mess and shivered.
However, weasels are rumored to be one of the few carnivores capable of eating hedgehogs. Although the hedgehog has a gentle personality and moves slowly, its back is covered with dense spikes from beginning to end, and it curls up into a ball when it encounters danger, like an impeccable "thorn ball", so that most predators have no way to bite and can only choose to give up. However, this trick of the hedgehog does not work when encountering a weasel, and the weasel has a pair of stink glands near the anus, which can release a disgusting and unpleasant odor. It is said that the weasel will look for the gap in the "thorn ball", that is, the location where the hedgehog uses to breathe, and then turn the body around, turn the anus to the gap, and release the odor. The stunned hedgehog, losing its ability to defend, slowly stretches out, and the weasel bites the hedgehog from the thornless abdomen and lower mouth, and then enjoys the delicacy.
According to some observations in the literature, if it happens to be a close encounter, the two immortals usually only stop for a short time to look at each other, and then continue on their way. But the one I met, which was really interested in the hedgehog, jumped around the hedgehog as if it were holding a pre-dinner ceremony (also known as the "Dance of Death"), probably in the height of summer when the campus was rich and varied, so that it eventually gave up.
A stoat jumps around the hare, looking for a chance to lock its throat, which is jokingly called the "Dance of Death" by netizens. Figure from the network
About a month later, I saw it again by the stone bridge, followed by a small weasel, and the last time it was so persistent to cross the bridge, Presumably for its children!
Summoning the weasel in the grass on the right
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > climbing trees to hit birds</h1>
During the breeding season, they prefer to climb up to large trees to pick up eggs or chicks. Once, a birdwatcher of mine saw a weasel climbing a tree on the embankment of Jingchun Garden, targeting the grey magpie's nest at the top of the tree.
The weasel was between two large trees, as if looking into the distance, but was actually planning to go up to the tree to pick up birds. A few days later, I noticed a handful of gray magpie feathers under the tree
The grey magpie is a very social bird, usually not only group activities, but also in the breeding period to form a group nest not far apart, as neighbors to each other, take care of each other. Whenever danger approaches, the Grey Magpie will emit a unique alarm sound, rough and loud, to remind companions and intimidate predators.
A gray magpie is calling the police to a sleeping cat. While the cat was dozing off, the gray magpie kept scratching the cat's back with its paws.
At that time, the weasel aroused the alarm of the surrounding flock of gray magpies, and they simultaneously sounded the alarm, which was huge, and some of them kept flying around the weasel, trying to interfere or even directly attack, and the scene was very exciting. Eventually the weasel was overwhelmed and obediently climbed down the tree. Friends witnessed all this and shared it in the WeChat group in real time, which is really enviable.
Grey magpies are almost accustomed to the comings and goings of people on campus, and the alarm sounds they emit are more from predators or other large bird invaders, so using the alarm sound of gray magpies to find weasels and some birds of prey on campus is a very effective way. Once you hear the alarm of the gray magpie nearby, please quickly adjust the camera parameters and get ready to harvest surprises!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > Hunt in Red Lake</h1>
In addition to climbing trees, weasels are also very good at swimming. In the past summer, I have encountered several weasels, and the hair on their bodies is wet, indicating that they have only recently come ashore.
One afternoon in May 2018, I happened to see a weasel on the east shore of the Red Lake, behaving a little strangely.
Letting me catch up with it, it didn't run away quickly, but kept running along the lake and keeping a distance from me. When I was gone, it turned back again, as if unwilling to leave the lake. So I simply went around to the other side of the lake, so that it would not disturb it, and I could shoot enough.
Run past the Willow Wave Warbler Stone Arch
Standing on the opposite shore to observe, I saw that it kept jumping around on several large rocks on the shore, while probing the water with its nose, as if it wanted to jump. I saw that its hair was still wet, indicating that it had jumped into the water before, was there any prey hidden in the water that it had not caught?
The weasel's strange behavior attracted a green-headed duck on the lake to swim close to watch, and it was very curious to swim near the shore, and the weasel on the shore was very close, and I was really worried that the weasel would suddenly jump and pounce on the green-headed duck on the water.
In fact, the weasel's target is the louyan climbing on the rock wall on the shore, because the location of the louyan is close to the water, and there are large stones above it, it is difficult to be reached, so the weasel has been looking for a suitable killing position, which is the reason why it is bouncing around on the shore and is reluctant to leave.
The green-headed duck watched the great immortal catch Lou Yan
Just as I was standing on the opposite shore recording all this, a girl with a sun umbrella on the north shore was also attracted to the weasel, who may have mistaken it for a little golden squirrel, so she walked over curiously. As she approached to observe, the weasel seemed to have found a suitable way to strike. On the big stone, it adopted a posture similar to "hanging the golden bell upside down", only using two hind legs to barb on the stone edge, the whole body went down, and quickly grabbed the Lou Yan hiding below, the action was very sharp, and the bitten Lou Yan issued a sharp scream.
The girl watched the great immortal catch Lou Yan
Daxian succeeded and scared away the girls by the way.
However, the girl who watched closely on the shore was frightened by this wonderful and brutal hunting scene, and could not help but let out a scream and quickly ran away. Only then did I understand the reason why it didn't want to leave, it was to catch Lou Yan.
Finally the weasel ran to the densely vegeted mound with its prey. It was the breeding season of the northern weasel, and it was estimated that it was time to return to the cave and greet its cubs.
In fact, that's not all there is to it.
Lou Yan has a slender wingspan and is extremely good at flying, and its claws have been specialized into unique climbing feet, that is, all four toes are facing forward (most birds have 3 front and 1 rear toes) and short. This foot type makes it difficult for the Lou Swallow to take off directly from the ground, so it is a bird that cannot land on the ground. In Beijing, they like to build their nests in the eaves of tall ancient buildings, and when they go out to forage, they need to jump out of the nest, and during the landing, they quickly flapp their wings and take off. Outdoor time is basically spent in the air.
Ordinary Lou Yan Picture from Chen Wei
Therefore, Lou Yan usually cannot climb on the shore of the Red Lake, and when I went back to sort out the photos, I found that Lou Yan's body was also wet, which showed that the two of them had fallen into the water together before I appeared, which was equivalent to me only recording the second half of the whole nature story. How does the lou yan living in the air intersect with the weasels on the ground? And how did it tear into the water? The previous plot is really incomprehensible.
Before graduation, I always thought that weasels living in the countryside were more thieves and more difficult to meet than individuals on campus. After graduation, I often returned to my hometown to photograph birds, and I had more observations of the nature of my hometown, and found that they were quite common whether it was day or night.
This article is longer, so it was split into two articles: campus + hometown. The hometown chapter is about to be updated, and I hope you will continue to pay attention to and read it.