Its winter fur is very dense, soft and fluffy, with guard hairs reaching 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) in length.

Siberian weasels are monotone in colour, being bright reddish-ocherous or straw-red, though orange or peach tones are sometimes noticeable on the skin.

[4] The Siberian weasel builds its nest inside fallen logs, empty stumps, brushwood piles and exposed tree roots.

They build a nesting chamber in the middle or end of the burrow and line it with bird feathers and rodent hair.

[5] In terms of prey selection, Siberian weasels are midway between small, rodent-eating mustelids such as polecats and the more polyphagous martens.

They rarely eat reptiles, invertebrates and plants, preferring instead to prey on rodents of small to moderate size.

Plant foods known to be eaten by Siberian weasels include pine nuts and Actinidia fruits.

[7] Siberian weasels are active hunters and chase prey through snow, logs, water and people's houses.

ochreous orange in fresh winter pelage[13] noctis (Barrett-Hamilton, 1904) taivana (Thomas, 1913)

major (Hilzheimer, 1910) tafeli (Hilzheimer, 1910) humeralis (Blyth, 1842) The Siberian weasels ranges from the Himalayas in Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan to northern Myanmar, northern Thailand, Laos, Taiwan, China, and North Korea.

In Russia, it occurs in the Kirov Province, Tataria, from the western Urals through Siberia to the Russian Far East.

[18] In Chinese folklore, the Siberian weasel is viewed as a wandering spirit (shen) that can steal and replace people's souls.

[19] Although Siberian weasels are overall useful for limiting rodent populations, they are nonetheless damaging to poultry and muskrat farms.

[20] They are extremely aggressive when caught in traps, emitting piercing shrieks and letting loose a pungent secretion which reportedly takes days to wash away.