Best mustelid. It's incredible that they are able to take rabbits as prey. And their strategy is absolutely amazing: confusion. They do their weasel war dance and the rabbit doesn't know what the fuck is going on until its neck is in the tiny mouth of a creature 1/10th its size.
They are pretty metal. They kill their prey by literally crushing the skull.
I've seen them hunt and once they get a hold of the prey, the struggle is over in seconds.
Average body length in males is 130 to 260 mm, while females average 114 to 204 mm.
Males weigh 36 to 250 g, while females weigh 29 to 117 g. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_weasel
The lesser of two weasels
Let's all vote for the lesser of two weasels.
Only the smallest mammalian carnivore.
Not even
Well, if you want to head that way, there's Etruscan shrew. Less than 2 grams of weight and 4 cm of length.
It's known for taking down prey larger than itself and I think holds the record for biggest disparity of weight predator to prey.
I assumed they meant carnivora
That's definitely not the world's smallest carnivore, but it is a small carnivore
They probably meant carnivore mammal.
Edit: it's the smallest species of the carnivora order. So not the "smallest carnivore", but "smallest carnivorian".
Right? Shit, we got single-cell carnivores in this world.
Any less weasel and BAM, got yourself a mouse.
The problem is there isn't a Most Weasel.
I think that would be the wolverine.
The superhero or the animal? Because I'm fine with either.
Best mustelid. It's incredible that they are able to take rabbits as prey. And their strategy is absolutely amazing: confusion. They do their weasel war dance and the rabbit doesn't know what the fuck is going on until its neck is in the tiny mouth of a creature 1/10th its size.
An absolute unit.
And that unit shall be called "1 milliweasel".
Which is equivalent to 1x10^-3^ weasel or 1x10^-6^ kiloweasel.
GIGAWEASEL
... I can has?
It's so cute!
The Leasel
Isn't that a stoat
It's less than a stoat
A quantum of stoat.
That thing is a killing machine!
holy shit, I didn't think there was anything smaller than a stoat in that family
Aka long hamsterat
They are pretty metal. They kill their prey by literally crushing the skull.
I've seen them hunt and once they get a hold of the prey, the struggle is over in seconds.
Average body length in males is 130 to 260 mm, while females average 114 to 204 mm.
Males weigh 36 to 250 g, while females weigh 29 to 117 g.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_weasel
Cute cat snake
Minimum Viable Predator
@fossilesque
it's the world's smallest carnivoran, not the smallest carnivore, which would probably be some form of insect.
@kopper
Love it!