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I really struggle to get my head round weasels

288 replies

HoneyDragon · 06/06/2013 18:46

I've seen them. I know what they look like, and often catch them whizzing across the road at weasel warp speed.

But their size always surprises me. Every time. I know they are small. But when you look at a picture of a weasel or think weasel, you think bigger. You don't think "oh, a weasel. That's a little bigger than a hamster that is". Or I don't. I go, ooooh a weasel. Wow, it's tiny, every time, the surprise never abates.

I struggle with weasel physics. That the actual weasel is not the size of the concept of weasel in my head.

I'm not sure how to fix it. Confused

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ComeAlongPond · 06/06/2013 22:16

And it's stripe on its face was a slightly darker brown. Not black and white at all.

ComeAlongPond · 06/06/2013 22:16

Could be a female badger I suppose - it was very pale though. Not at all grey, more blonde.

SaggyOldClothCatPuss · 06/06/2013 22:12

Ive seen stoats, weasels, bagders and an otter.
The otter was quaite large, weasels are teeny, stoats are HUUUGE, the one who lives in my paddock is the size of a BIG squirrel, and badgers seem to have a death wish. There are dead ones everywhere round here!

HoneyDragon · 06/06/2013 22:09

Female badgers are skinnier than you'd expect?

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mawbroon · 06/06/2013 22:08

Who mentioned hairy caterpillars?

I had a really bad allergic reaction after stroking hairy caterpillars as a child.

Do you still get them? I haven't seen one for years!!

vastknapsack · 06/06/2013 22:08

Going off on a tangent, sloths freak me out completely. They make me feel extremely uneasy. Wtf is going on with the weird toupee hair thing?

ComeAlongPond · 06/06/2013 22:04

Hmm, maybe... I think it had slightly smaller ears though, and wasn't as dark as that. And google isn't showing pine martens having very stripy faces - it was distinctly stripy in the face, enough that the landlord and two of our group were adamant it was a badger. (It definitely wasn't a badger!)

LadyBeagleEyes · 06/06/2013 22:01

A pine marten ComeAlong?

ComeAlongPond · 06/06/2013 21:59

What is the animal that is very big - bigger than a cat, maybe, and quite long - and looks like a stoat but with slightly badger-like facial stripes?

There was a big stuffed one in a pub I was in a while ago and we couldn't work out what it was. The owner didn't know, he thought it was a badger. But it was too thin in the body and its face wasn't pointy enough to be a badger. It's fur was a kind of sandy colour, with a slightly stripy face.

iheartdusty · 06/06/2013 21:50

someone mentioned voles. Now many voles are teeny tiny, but water voles - they are unfeasibly big! exactly like big plump guinea pigs.

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=577&tbm=isch&tbnid=gNM2X0c3kVRh7M:&imgrefurl=plantdiagnostics.umd.edu/level3.cfm%3FcauseID%3D69&docid=AoD7Te31p4-ytM&imgurl=plantdiagnostics.umd.edu/_media/client/diagnostics/fullsize/vole_l.jpg&w=400&h=300&ei=A_WwUfiLOoXe4QS_t4GABQ&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:9,s:0,i:120&iact=rc&dur=1243&page=1&tbnh=186&tbnw=255&start=0&ndsp=10&tx=154&ty=97" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">meadow vole

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=577&tbm=isch&tbnid=JEz2PVkSSLPC0M:&imgrefurl=www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/European_Water_Vole&docid=FaH-m4PVewIS7M&imgurl=ichef.bbci.co.uk/naturelibrary/images/ic/credit/640x395/e/eu/european_water_vole/european_water_vole_1.jpg&w=640&h=395&ei=A_WwUfiLOoXe4QS_t4GABQ&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:8,s:0,i:117&iact=rc&dur=1884&page=1&tbnh=176&tbnw=286&start=0&ndsp=10&tx=111&ty=109" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">water vole

SoniaGluck · 06/06/2013 21:47

Excellent, MeanAndMeasly I'm loving Ozzy. Grin

cardibach · 06/06/2013 21:44

Weasels are cute! Ta Beehatch!

Beehatch · 06/06/2013 21:41

M&MMA you just beat me to it

Grin
CouthyMow · 06/06/2013 21:35

Feeding a giraffe is weirder. They eat like cows. Yes, I know they are cloven-hoofed animals too, but their tongues are surprisingly cow-like!!

MeanAndMeaslyMiddleAges · 06/06/2013 21:29

If it hasn't already been mentioned, please may I suggest you tubing Ozzy the Weasel and Ozzy the Weasel War Dance. The second one made me all kinds of happy!

CouthyMow · 06/06/2013 21:23

Badgerswife - that's ferrets, that is, the ones on a lead that you are thinking of.

CouthyMow · 06/06/2013 21:22

One - weasels are like a hairy finger with legs. But they should be bigger.

Two - I have SEEN a badger. But I wouldn't want to touch one. I value my fingers. Badgers are ornery bastards and would bite you as soon as look at you...

TheMagicKeyCanFuckOff · 06/06/2013 21:17

Weasels are tiny but adorable. Worked at a wildlife rescue centre for 3 years- had a variet of pine martens, weasels, ferrets, badgers, hedgehogs, squirrels, some owls, some kestrels and falcons and more come through and I was always shocked.

What shocks me are elephants. We fed them at Colchester Zoo. Now, I know about elephants. I know they put food in their mouths, but when I fed them I kind of felt weird because I, for no real reason having seen elephants eating before etc;, believed they'd suck it up their trunk. I know they don't....but they should. Evolutionary failure to my mind.

CouthyMow · 06/06/2013 21:14

God, that thread title actually made me look like this ---> Confused

Grin
Nagoo · 06/06/2013 21:12

I'd up the estimate from hot dog to family sized mattesons sausage Grin

MoominMammasHandbag · 06/06/2013 21:04

I have just realised that I have got to my advanced age believing that ferrets were basically weasels that had been tamed. So they are completely different animals then are they?

SelfRighteousPrissyPants · 06/06/2013 21:04

Who decides to measure a weasel?!

Nagoo · 06/06/2013 21:02

app. duh.

anyway, that looks the right size to me. is that even a weasel?

Nagoo · 06/06/2013 21:01

fingers crossed

I'm on a stupid all so I apologise if I link like a dick Grin Blush

HoneyDragon · 06/06/2013 20:47

We have Rurban foxes here. Christened one night by a very drunk dh, who on driving home in a taxi pointed out a fox in someones front garden, and went "oh a Urban fox" to which I pointed out we lived in the country. He couldn't managed to say Rural. So settled on "Rurban" and giggling Grin

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