The word “mustelid” or “weasel” may give associations to something slender, smooth, and short-legged. While it is true for some of the more well-known species, properly describing their essence can be a whole different matter, as this is a diverse family of carnivores and omnivores whose members have adapted to a wide range of environments. This drastically affects the way these animals look and behave.
To make things more complicated, many of their traits are found in several other families within the order Carnivora in response to various types of evolution, like sharing similar ecological roles or keeping traits from an early ancestor they branched from. That is not to say they do not have any characteristics that sets them apart!
Table of Contents
- • The basics
- • The niches
The basics
You do not need fancy equipment or colours—no matter what your level of artistic skills, taking time to learn the basics about a mustelid is the best advantage you can give your art.
Sometimes there can be too much focus on mustelids being long and short-legged, because there are other, often disregarded anatomical features that greater distinguishes them from other animals. The absence of some of these features in art and animation are not always due to personal preference or even stylisation, because in some cases, it is because people are simply not aware certain features of mustelids exist.
Build
• While not all mustelids share the same anatomy, their build is primarily shaped by curves and gives an even and soft appearance without sharp angles or transitions between body parts. There is no abdominal tuck like in canids, but a slight potbelly can occur.
• An extremely flexible spine that often gives a hunchbacked impression.
Skull and snout
• Flattened skull with a large braincase and short facial region, elongate from the side and broad on top and from the front. There is little to no dip where the forehead meets the nose bridge.
Teeth
• Not all mustelids share an identical dentition, but they all possess teeth adapted for eating flesh and have shearing carnassials. The most common dental formula is: 3.1.3.13.1.3.2.(1) They are not rodents and do not have buck teeth.
Eyes
• Dark brown eyes (not including domesticated varieties or albino) that are widely spaced. Weasels, martens, the fisher, tayra, and wolverine have horizontal slit pupils, while badgers, ferret-badgers, and otters have round pupils. To give some examples, here are the horizontal pupils in the eyes of a North American mink (Neogale vison), eyes of a Japanese marten (Martes melampus), eyes of a tayra (Eira barbara), eyes of a wolverine (Gulo gulo), and round pupils in the eyes of a giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis). If making the pupils visible, this detail is important for anatomical consistency if other animals (e.g., cats, foxes, horses, goats, mongooses, etc.) are given slit pupils in the same depiction with a mustelid.
Ears
• Ears that are flat, widely spaced, rounded at the tips, and often low-set. They also cannot move freely to express emotion like felids and canids, only to the side or lay against the sides of the skull. Many species have ear pockets (also known as Henry’s pockets, or more formally referred to as cutaneous marginal pouches) on the outermost ridge of their ear rims.
Legs and paws
• Short, but robust and muscular limbs.
• Forepaws: Broad, shovel-shaped paws that always have 5 elongate and padded digits for holding and gripping.
• Semi- to non-retractable claws on all digits, on the same level without dewclaws.
• Hindpaws: Always 5 elongate and padded digits. All digits should evenly touch the ground. The innermost digit on the hindpaw (a.k.a. the smallest digit) should look connected like the others and not like a thumb or dewclaw. This digit is always located directly beside the large segmented centre pad (known as the metacarpal pad) and never below it. If drawn below it you have not given your mustelid a fifth toe, but instead a dewclaw of a dog.
In addition, mustelids have a plantigrade to semi-plantigrade gait, with the entire or half of the sole of the hindpaw in contact with the ground. They are not digitigrade like dogs and cats and do not typically stand or walk on their digits. Photos like this may appear contradictory, with the heel positioned high off the ground. However, we humans are a good example—if we attempt to walk on all fours our heels rise slightly to significantly off the ground, yet we are still a plantigrade species.
The niches
To greater understand mustelids, one has to be aware of the traits they have evolved in order to better function in the conditions they inhabit. This is where their resourcefulness and abilities really come into play and help distinguishing them further from the other carnivorans.
• Badgers: Generalist diggers (Own sheet is coming)
• Martens, fisher, and tayra: Acrobats of the trees (Own sheet is coming)
• Otters: Masters of the wet element (Own sheet is coming)
• Weasels: Tunnel hunters (Own sheet is coming)
• Wolverine: Vagabond of the North (Own sheet is coming)
Everything in-between
• Grisons: (Own sheet is coming)
• Ferret-badgers: (Own sheet is coming)
• North American mink: The all-rounder (Own sheet is coming)
References