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The Tonkin weasel or Vietnamese mountain weasel (''Mustela tonkinensis'') is a species of weasel described by Björkegren in 1941. It is known only from a singular specimen collected from an undisclosed location in Northern Vietnam. Originally believed to be a form of either the
least weasel The least weasel (''Mustela nivalis''), little weasel, common weasel, or simply weasel is the smallest member of the genus '' Mustela,'' family Mustelidae and order Carnivora. It is native to Eurasia, North America and North Africa, and has bee ...
or the yellow-bellied weasel, the species was distinguished as a separate variety on the basis of skull differences by Groves in 2007.


Description

A standard-sized weasel, the Tonkin weasel measures between 20 and 25 centimetres in body length, with a tail length of between 10 and 11 centimetres. The upper section of the body is medium brown, while the throat, chest and stomach are white in colour. The colouring of the fur is regarded as 'vulgaris-type', which is characterised by an indented
demarcation line {{Refimprove, date=January 2008 A political demarcation line is a geopolitical border, often agreed upon as part of an armistice or ceasefire. Africa * Moroccan Wall, delimiting the Moroccan-controlled part of Western Sahara from the Sahrawi- ...
between the areas of brown and white colour in both the neck and trunk regions. The weasel is distinguished from other species by the size of the narrow skull.


Distribution and habitat

The recorded specimen is believed to have originated from a mountain range within the Hoàng Liên National Park in the Lào Cai Province. Although Björkegren initially recorded the location of the specimen as in close proximity
Sa Pa Sa Pa (, also written as Sapa) is a district-level town of Lào Cai Province in the Northwest region of Vietnam. As of 2018, the town had a population of 61,498. The town covers an area of 677 km2. The town capital lies at Sa Pa. It is one ...
, it has been concluded by Abramov that the point of origin was more likely to have been from Seo My Ty to the southwest of the town. Thereby, it is probable that the species, if extant, survives within temperate fokienia forest of the sub-alpine highlands of Northern Vietnam.


Behaviour

In association with other endemic species, it is probable that the Tonkin weasel consumes a similar carnivorous diet. Therefore, it is likely that their diet may consist of birds, insects and other rodents, including Père David's vole and the
Eurasian Harvest Mouse The harvest mouse (''Micromys minutus'') is a small rodent native to Europe and Asia. It is typically found in fields of cereal crops, such as wheat and oats, in reed beds and in other tall ground vegetation, such as long grass and hedgerows. It ...
. Despite adequate abilities in relation to climbing, it is unlikely that arboreal and
scansorial Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose num ...
animals would form a portion of their diet.


Population

The population of the species remains unknown, as it has only been recorded on a single occasion when caught in 1939. It remains possible that concentrations of the population still exist within the higher altitude areas of the Indochina Peninsula, as there is no evidence that, despite extensive land clearing in the region, the weasel is in any way dependent on the temperate forest ecosystem. Despite surveys between 2005 and 2012 which involved numerous discussions with the local Hmong people and forest rangers, no supplementary sightings of the weasel have been reported to date.


Threats

The weasel is believed to be located within a region where
hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
in all forms is relatively intense, and it is therefore tenable to suggest that the species may be in decline. The placement of traps to catch other
rodents Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are nat ...
and
birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
in the highlands may also place the weasel in inadvertent danger. In addition, much of the suggested area of habitation has been prone to fragmentation for agricultural purposes.


References

Mammals of Asia Weasels Mammals described in 1941 {{carnivora-stub