I was tossing up between mountain weasel and yellow-bellied weasel (Mustela kathiah) for this animal. It does look more like the colour of the yellow-bellied from photos, but it was very small and according to the Mammals Of China the white hands are a characteristic of the mountain weasel.
I couldn\'t find any information on whether yellow-bellied weasels should be found at Ruoergai either.
a couple more photos, including the tail (I'm not sure if the tail is actually as long as it appears in this photo, or if it is an artifact from the position of the animal).
I believe that this is, in fact, a Yellow-Bellied Weasel (Mustela kathiah) - not only is the overall coloration correct for this species, but a check of Carnivores of the World (Hunter and Barrett) and HMW1 both note the diagnostic white appearance of the chin, and the fact that the species *is* known to have white patches and flecking on the front paws.
I believe that this is, in fact, a Yellow-Bellied Weasel (Mustela kathiah) - not only is the overall coloration correct for this species, but a check of Carnivores of the World (Hunter and Barrett) and HMW1 both note the diagnostic white appearance of the chin, and the fact that the species *is* known to have white patches and flecking on the front paws.
I do like yellow-bellied weasel, but I am still hung up on the white paws. I'm pretty crap at judging size so while I think it was the smallness of mountain weasel, it may have been larger like yellow-bellied. Against mountain weasel is the colour (but I gather both species may be variable) and the tail which appears too long (which would point to yellow-bellied weasel). What gets me is that Mammals Of China makes a big point about the white paws being diagnostic for mountain weasel (it also says that the white lips and chin are in mountain weasel as well).
The two species are actually about the same size - according to the books in front of me right now, the HB length of mountain weasel ranges from 21.7 to 28.7cm, and the yellow-bellied from 20 to 29cm.
Here is a photo I just found of a yellow-bellied displaying the white paws which have thrown you so much.
Of course, identification is somewhat hampered by the fact that the yellow-bellied seems to be relatively little-studied, and so there are nowhere near as many photos of them online as there are of other mustelids.
oh that's interesting. Mammals Of China has mountain weasel as noticeably smaller (it says least weasel and mountain weasel are the smallest mustelids in the country). Both have wide ranges through Asia though, so maybe it is only covering the size range in China and not overall. Anyway, I like that photo you found, that does convince me.
Hi, I am sure it is a mountain weasel or Altai weasel. The yellow-bellied weasel is far more dark in its back (at least in China), and is more-or-less a lowland forest species; on the other side, the mountain weasel is a typical highland species in China, and is also the most friendly weasel species in China, as there are many mountain weasel photos taken in Tibet and west Sichuan by Chinese photographers, thus I am pretty sure it is a mountain weasel.
