It is hard to guess what a Colombian weasel weights. But we have the answer:
An adult Colombian weasel (Mustela felipei) on average weights 211 grams (0.47 lbs).
The Colombian weasel is from the family Mustelidae (genus: Mustela). When reaching adult age, they grow up to 21.5 cm (0′ 9″).
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The Colombian weasel (Mustela felipei), also known as Don Felipe’s weasel, is a very rare species of weasel only known with certainty from the departments of Huila and Cauca in Colombia and nearby northern Ecuador (where it is only known from a single specimen). Both its scientific and alternative common name honours the mammalogist Philip “Don Felipe” Hershkovitz.It appears to be largely restricted to riparian habitats at an altitude of 1,100 to 2,700 m (3,600 to 8,900 ft). There is extensive deforestation within its limited distribution within the northern Andes of Colombia and Ecuador, and with less than 10 known specimens, it is probably the rarest carnivoran in South America. It is considered vulnerable by the IUCN.It is the second-smallest living carnivore on average, being only slightly larger than the least weasel (Mustela nivalis) and slightly smaller than the stoat or ermine (M. erminea). The upperparts and tail are blackish-brown, while the underparts are orange-buff.The first photo of a living specimen was taken by an amateur naturalist who found one trapped in his parents’ house in 2011. The weasel subsequently escaped to the outdoors.
Animals of the same family as a Colombian weasel
We found other animals of the Mustelidae family:
- Indonesian mountain weasel with a weight of 466 grams
- Hairy-nosed otter bringing 5.97 kilos (13.16 lbs) to the scale
- Eastern spotted skunk with a weight of 568 grams
- Bornean ferret-badger with 2 babies per litter
- Yellow-bellied weasel with a weight of 264 grams
- African striped weasel with a weight of 308 grams
- American badger bringing 7.84 kilos (17.28 lbs) to the scale
- Giant otter bringing 26 kilos (57.32 lbs) to the scale
- American mink with a weight of 904 grams
- Lesser grison bringing 1 kilos (2.2 lbs) to the scale
Animals with the same weight as a Colombian weasel
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Mustela felipei:
- Ceram fruit bat bringing 228 grams to the scale
- Mexican woodrat bringing 203 grams to the scale
- White-toothed tuco-tuco bringing 244 grams to the scale
- Cooper’s mountain squirrel bringing 250 grams to the scale
- Hairy-tailed antsangy bringing 219 grams to the scale
- Lundomys bringing 238 grams to the scale
- Small sun squirrel bringing 174 grams to the scale
- Lesser mole-rat bringing 188 grams to the scale
- Mountain weasel bringing 180 grams to the scale
- Smoky flying squirrel bringing 251 grams to the scale
Animals with the same size as a Colombian weasel
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Colombian weasel:
- American pika with a size of 19 cm (0′ 8″)
- Coquerel’s giant mouse lemur with a size of 23.1 cm (0′ 10″)
- Brandt’s hedgehog with a size of 20.7 cm (0′ 9″)
- Striped treeshrew with a size of 18.5 cm (0′ 8″)
- Small sun squirrel with a size of 19 cm (0′ 8″)
- Four-toed elephant shrew with a size of 19.2 cm (0′ 8″)
- Red-bellied marsupial shrew with a size of 17.9 cm (0′ 8″)
- Guyenne spiny rat with a size of 22 cm (0′ 9″)
- Fijian monkey-faced bat with a size of 18.6 cm (0′ 8″)
- Ihering’s Atlantic spiny rat with a size of 19.7 cm (0′ 8″)