Mustelids are also common in Africa and South America. The mustelids are a large, widely distributed and rather mixed group. Many are small, under 2.2 lbs., the smallest carnivores are mustelids, have a long body with short legs and are skillful climbers. All have five toes on each foot, with sharp, nonretractile claws.
Sexual dimorphism is much less pronounced in badgers, otters and skunks.
Mustelids have 28-38 teeth. The range of body weights is exceptional, the giant otter and the wolverine may outweigh the least weasel by a thousand times. The basic short leg, long body plan also occurs with a variety of adaptations in form and diet fitted to life as a carnivore in very different habitats. The anal glands are an important feature of the anatomy of most mustelids. They consist of two groups of modified skin glands, each emptying into a storage sac, which opens by a sphincter into the rectum near the anus.