I thought I’d pen a quick post about an interesting specimen that I discovered the other day:
It’s a species I’d not heard about before and I was intrigued to discover a bit more about it.
It’s a Namibian Jumping-weasel Mustela jocuverus (Primus, 1881) which is a small mustelid native to Namibia and Botswana. It is very similar in habits to other Weasels and Stoats, but it has a very special adaptation – it jumps.
Now other mustelids also jump as part of their hunting technique, as can be seen in this video clip:
But this mustelid hunts in arid desert conditions and it has little cover from vegetation, making it more dependent on high speed bounding to overtake its prey of small rodents, which it quickly overpowers with a bite to the back of the neck from those impressive canines.
Happy April!
Zygoma 
You get them in the Highlands too but up here they are called “Scottish Bouncing Badgers”.
I hear they’re the regular prey of the Haggis, which is a fascinating beast!
I shared this on facebook and my brother commented, “The good thing about the Namibian Jumping-weasel is that they eat cats. I’m sending one to you.”
Is this true? 😦
They’ve only been recorded as eating cats on a few occasions. Like most mustelids they will tackle prey far bigger than themselves.
Don’t they mainly prey on Jackalopes?
Yes indeed, although I believe there is one report of a Namibian Jumping-weasel being found impaled on the antlers of a male Jackalope, so they don’t have it all their own way!
Great video choice! I laughed to myself. What a fun one, thanks for sharing this!
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