Mountain weasel

Its habitats are grassland and shrubland. Gestation lasts 39 days, with 5.8 young per litter and 1.1 litters per year, and the IUCN Red List classifies it as Near Threatened, which is not a threatened category.

Weight

171 g – 175.6 gsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

Not recorded

Diet

Carnivoresrc for Diet

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

grassland, shrublandsrc for Habitat

Gestation

39 dayssrc for Gestation

Young per litter or clutch

5.77src for Young per litter or clutch

Litters or clutches a year

1.1src for Litters or clutches a year

Active

At night (nocturnal)src for Active

Lifestyle

Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle

Conservation status

Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The mountain weasel is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classMammalia
4. orderCarnivora
5. familyMustelidae
6. genusMustela
7. SpeciesMustela altaica Pallas, 1811

Synonyms Kolonocus alpinus birulai, Kolonocus alpinus raddei, Mustela altaica altaica, Mustela altaica birulai, Mustela altaica raddei, Mustela altaica raddei, Mustela altaica temon, Mustela astutus, Mustela longstaffi, Mustela sacana, Mustela temon, Putorius alpinus, Putorius astutus

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

LC, Least Concern

Least weasel

Mustela nivalis

Mustelidae

LC, Least Concern

Stoat

Mustela erminea

Mustelidae

LC, Least Concern

European polecat

Mustela putorius

Mustelidae

CR, Critically Endangered

European mink

Mustela lutreola

Mustelidae

LC, Least Concern

Siberian weasel

Mustela sibirica

Mustelidae

LC, Least Concern

Steppe polecat

Mustela eversmanii

Mustelidae

CompareMountain weasel vs Least weaselMountain weasel vs StoatMountain weasel vs European polecatMountain weasel vs European mink

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
  Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{mountain_weasel_2026,
  title = {Mountain weasel (Mustela altaica)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/mountain-weasel},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}