Mustelids move about on their digits, or partly on their digits and partly on their soles. The smaller, slender forms usually travel by means of a scampering gait interspersed with a series of bounds. The larger, stocky forms proceed in a slow, rolling, bearlike shuffle. Mustelids often sit on their haunches to look around. Many genera are agile climbers, and otters and minks are skillful swimmers.
Mustelids are mainly flesh eaters.
They hunt by scent, though the senses of hearing and sight are also well developed. Some species occasionally feed on plant material, a few are omnivorous, and otters subsist mainly on aquatic animals. The storage of food has been reported for Mustela, Poecilogale, Gulo, and certain badgers. Many mustelids use the secretions of their anal glands as a defensive measure. This pattern is thought to be a form of warning coloration associated with the fetid anal gland secretion, and a reminder that the animal is better left alone.