Contents -- 1 Weaselly Distinguished, Stoatally Different -- Weasels in Literature -- Another View of the Weasels -- The Weasel Family -- Common Names -- The Evolutionary Origins of the Weasels -- Patterns of Postglacial Colonization -- Species Diagnoses -- 2 Hair-Trigger Mouse Traps with Teeth -- The General Anatomy of Weasels -- The Skeleton -- Skull and Teeth -- The Senses -- Voice -- Play -- The Consequences of Being Weasel-Shaped -- 3 Molt and Winter Whitening -- The Molt Cycle -- Winter Whitening -- Robes of State -- 4 Body Size -- The Importance of Being the Right Size -- Problems of Measuring Size -- Size Variation in the Weasels of the Northern Hemisphere Continents -- Size Variation in Weasels on the Northern Hemisphere Islands -- Adaptation in Body Size of Stoats Transported to New Zealand -- 5 Food -- Identifying and Interpreting Weasel Diets -- Foods of Stoats in North America and Eurasia -- Foods of Long-Tailed Weasels in North America -- Foods of Common Weasels in Britain and Western Europe -- Foods of Least Weasels in North America and Northern Eurasia -- Foods of Stoats and Common Weasels Introduced Into New Zealand -- 6 Hunting Behavior -- Target Species -- The Kill -- Caching -- Energy Equations and a Weasel's Choice of Prey -- Activity: Day or Night Hunting? -- Body Sizes of Predator and Prey -- 7 The Impact of Predation by Weasels on Populations of Natural Prey -- Problems and Methods of Studying Predation -- Weasels in Tundra and Boreal Forests -- Weasels in Temperate Farmland and Forest -- Responses of Voles to Weasels -- Community Dynamics: Predators and Prey Together -- Weasels and Other Predators Compared -- 8 Adjustable Living Spaces -- Methods and Problems of Estimating Home Ranges -- Home Range in Common Weasels -- Home Range in Least Weasels -- Home Range in Stoats -- Home Range in Long-Tailed Weasels.

Scent Communication -- The How and Why of Home Ranges -- 9 Reproduction -- The Reproductive Anatomy of Weasels -- Mating Behavior in Adults -- The Sexual Cycles in Adults -- Dens -- Development of the Young -- Dispersal -- 10 Populations: Density and Breeding Success -- Estimating Density -- Variations in Weasel Density -- Demographic Control of Density of Stoats -- Density Variation in Common Weasels -- Density Variation in Least Weasels -- Density Variation in Long-Tailed Weasels -- 11 Populations: Survival and Mortality -- Methods of Age Determination -- Frequency Distributions of Age Classes -- Life Tables -- Survival of Stoats -- Survival in Longtails -- Survival in Common Weasels -- Sex Ratio -- Predators of Weasels -- Parasites and Diseases of Weasels -- 12 Human Attitudes to Weasels in Their Native Environments -- Weasels and Wild Birds -- Weasels as Pests of Game Birds -- Weasels and the Control of Pest Mammals -- Protection for Weasels? -- 13 Stoats as Introduced Pests in New Zealand -- Raiders of the Lost Ark -- The Historic Extinctions -- Stoats and the Contemporary Bird Fauna -- Control of Stoats in New Zealand -- Community Restoration -- 14 Puzzles: Sexual Dimorphism, Delayed Implantation, and Coexistence among Weasel Species -- How Size Affects Population Dynamics -- Sexual Dimorphism -- Delayed Implantation -- Competition and Coexistence among Weasel Species -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- References -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Z.