Members of this family typically have elongated body shapes and short legs. Their spinal flexion aids in their ability to leap.
Mustelids are very carniverous and thus predatory.
Mustelids kill prey larger than themselves by a throat bite, and the hanging on and chewing until the animal suffocates or bleeds to death. It is an unfair accusation for an animal that has simply developed an efficient way of killing its food. Another behavior that leads humans to view certain predators as bloodthirsty is surplus killing . Surplus killing has been documented in many predator species. Mustelids do not hibernate or go into torpor, and must hunt all year.