However, to reap the benefits of their small, dynamic world, the weasels can t afford to be picky eaters. Shrews form an important part of their winter diet. Though they occasionally eat fish, weasels are poor swimmers, paddling clumsily with their backs arched out of water. Weasels have an earned reputation as fierce, efficient predators that will attack animals several times their own size. The weasel s habit of killing larger prey and killing several animals at a time stems from its habit of storing or caching surplus food for later use.
Weasels track mice through their winter runways and lairs.
1998 Small caches scattered about can provide a series of small meals. Incidents of wholesale slaughter in poultry yards are likely triggered when a weasel goes into hunt mode in the unnatural setting of finding several confined prey with no avenue of escape. Three species of true weasels live in North America. Long-tails occupy diverse habitats throughout the United States and into Central America. They appear to prefer patchy landscapes of mixed habitats intersected by streams and small rivers.