Malay Weasel

The Malayan weasel is reddish-brown to grayish-white. Its head is lighter in colour than the rest of the body. The distal half of the tail is pale orange to white. The soles of the feet are naked. It has a body length of 30–36 cm (12–14 in) with a 24–26 cm (9.4–10.2 in) long tail.

The Malayan weasel is native to the Malay Peninsula from southern Thailand to peninsula Malaysia, and Sumatra and Borneo. It is generally associated with tropical lowland forest, but has been recorded in habitats ranging from swamp and montane forests to plantations and high elevation montane scrub up to 1,700 m (5,600 ft). A better understanding of habitat preferences would require surveys specifically aimed at the Malayan weasel because it is rarely detected by general camera trap, road mortality, and visual surveys. In Borneo, it was photographed in primary dipterocarp and logged forest at elevations of 177–1,032 m (581–3,386 ft).

The Malayan weasel is very poorly known, but assumed to occur at low densities and behave elusively based on low detection rates. It is a ground-living species and its morphology not suited to climbing. Their diet is unknown but assumed to be similar to other small weasels: mostly carnivorous, including small rodents, birds, eggs, and small reptiles. Most records of the species occurred during the day, but more research is needed to determine whether Malayan weasels are also active nocturnally. The majority of sightings have been of single animals, suggesting a solitary nature as seen in most weasel species of genus Mustela. Not much is known about its breeding habits, but a litter of four has been recorded.