Colombian weasel
| Colombian weasel | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Subclass: | Theria |
| Infraclass: | Eutheria |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Mustelidae |
| Subfamily: | Mustelinae |
| Genus: | Mustela |
| Species: | M. felipei |
| Binomial name | |
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Mustela felipei Izor and de la Torre, 1978 |
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| Colombian weasel range | |
Colombian weasel (Mustela felipei), also known as the Don Felipe's weasel, is a very rare species of weasel only known with certainty from the departments of Huila and Cauca in Colombia and nearby northern Ecuador (where only known from a single specimen). Both its scientific and alternative common name honours the mammalogist Philip "Don Felipe" Hershkovitz.
It appears to be largely restricted to riparian habitats at an altitude of 1,100 to 2,700 m (3,600 to 8,900 ft). There is extensive deforestation within its limited distribution within the northern Andes of Colombia and Ecuador, and with less than ten known specimens, it is probably the rarest carnivoran in South America. It is considered vulnerable by the IUCN.
It is the second smallest living carnivore on average, being only slightly larger than the least weasel (Mustela nivalis) and slightly smaller than the ermine or stoat (M. erminea). The upperparts and tail are blackish-brown, while the underparts are orange-buff.
M. felipei is one of the least studied carnivore species in the Americas, and is expected to maintain a larger geographical range that currently known. Reports of sightings have placed M. felipei in the mountain ranges of western Colombia to northern Ecuador. M. felipei was originally thought to be endemic to Colombia however recent specimens have been collected in Ecuador that have since proven this thought wrong. Distribution and habitat modeling surveys have been able to predict that M. felipei is distributed between 20 protected areas in Colombia, and 14 in Ecuador along with three previously known locations in both countries, the majority of these locations lie in protected areas of the forest.
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Wikipedia