While watching archived videos of bats at Coronado National Memorial, participants in the online, citizen science project Arizona BatWatch made an exciting discovery. Several participants shared videos of an unknown mammal to the project’s discussion board. According to Helen Fitting, National Park Service Biologist with the Southeast Arizona Group, the animal was a long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata).

Long-tailed weasels are in the mustelid family with mink, ferrets, and otters. Their bodies are approximately 4-6 inches (10-15 centimeters) long not including their long thin tails. Long-tailed weasels are the only weasels found in Arizona and are only found in wooded, high elevation parts of the state.

Finding the long-tailed weasel on the videos is exciting because it is the first documented recording of a long-tailed weasel at Coronado National Memorial. Thanks to Arizona BatWatch participants Aelegans, Amonite, Asixtus, Avalien, Batfan, Chriszzy22, Emandity, Illuvati, and Nellie_Neshaver for helping document this exciting and unexpected discovery.

Below are two 10-second videos of the weasels.

Video 1: This video shows two weasels chasing each other away from the upper right corner of the gate.

Video 2: This video picks up 1 second before the first video ends and gives a closer look at the weasels. Watch for the weasel to appear from behind the time stamp.

A long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata) at Cedar Breaks National Monument. Photo credit: NPS