The diet of weasel (Mustela nivalis) collected in agricultural 

mosaic plain regions of Hugary was studied using the analysis of 

stomach and rectum contents (n = 155). As a percentage relative 

frequency of occurrence, diets consisted of 85% small rodents 

(mainly Microtus spp.), 10% birds (mainly Passeriformes), and 

lizard, wasp, blood and plant matter. Consumption of small 

mammals increased from winter to summer and autumn. No predation 

on lagomorphs was found. Standardized trophic niche breadth was 

very narrow (mean, Bsta = 0.07). The food consisted of 

characteristically small (15-50 g) and terrestrial prey

Heltai, Miklós

Lanszki, József

English

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109Folia Zool. – 56(1): 109–112 (2007)Diet of the weasel in HungaryJózsef Lanszki1 and Miklós HeLtai21 Ecological Research Group, University of Kaposvár, P.O. Box 16, H-7401 Kaposvár, Hungary;  e-mail: lanszki@mail.atk.u-kaposvar.hu2 Department of Wildlife Biology and Game Management, St Stephens University, Páter K. Str. 1, H-2103  Gödöllő, Hungary; e-mail: Heltai.Miklos@vvt.gau.huReceived 10 april 2006; accepted 1 March 2007a b s t r a c t . the diet of weasel (Mustela nivalis) collected in agricultural mosaic plain regions of Hugary was studied using the analysis of stomach and rectum contents (n = 155). as a percentage relative frequency of occurrence, diets consisted of 85% small rodents (mainly Microtus spp.), 10% birds (mainly Passeriformes), and lizard, wasp, blood and plant matter. Consumption of small mammals increased from winter to summer and autumn. no predation on lagomorphs was found. standardized trophic niche breadth was very narrow (mean, Bsta = 0.07). the food consisted of characteristically small (15–50 g) and terrestrial prey. Key words: Mustela nivalis, stomach analysis, Microtus, HungaryIntroductionWeasel Mustela nivalis (L.) is a Holarctic, a wide spread species in europe (R e i c h s t e i n 1993, M i t c h e l l - J o n e s  et al. 1999), and common predator in Hungary (H e l t a i  2002). Weasel habitat ranges from grasslands and meadows, wetlands to various types of forests and human settlements. the main food of weasel consists of small mammals (s i d o r o v i c h 1997, J ę d r z e j e w s k a  & J ę d r z e j e w s k i  1998). However, depending on season and area, in addition to the dominance of rodents, considerable consumption of birds and eggs (t a p p e r  1979) or lagomorphs (D a y  1968, t a p p e r  1979, M c D o n a l d  et al. 2000), and rare, consumption of invertebrates (k i n g  et al. 1996) has been noted. the only carnivore of which the status is unclear in Hungary (unprotected and/or huntable only by permission). in contrast with the presumable wildlife management importance derived from earlier studies performed in other regions, the diet of the weasel had not yet been studied in the Pannonian ecoregion. the aim of this study was to investigate the diet composition and feeding habits of the weasel in Hungary.Material and Methodsanimals (n = 155) were collected between 1999 and 2003 by live trapping, hunting and road kill (national Carnivore Monitoring Program) with the permission of the national Parks concerned. Weasels originated from plains regions situated on the west of the Danube River (n = 9), between Danube and tisza Rivers (n = 83) and east of the tisza (n = 63). these habitats were mosaics of arable land, meadows and forests (B i r ó  et al. 2005). Feeding habits were examined by analysis of stomach content and faeces collected from the rectum. Half of the stomachs (51%) were empty and the state of digestion of items in each stomach varied, so N O T E110analysis of faeces collected from the rectum was necessary. accordingly, no biomass, only the relative frequency of occurrence for each item was calculated. Prey were analysed by microscope on the basis of feather, bone, dental and hair characteristics using standard procedures (more detail: J e d r z e j e w s k a  & J e d r z e j e w s k i  1998, B i r ó  et al. 2005). to calculate diet composition and trophic niche breadth, the minimum number of food items identified from the stomachs and faeces were taken into account. trophic niche breadth was calculated in accordance with Levins and standardized (k r e b s  1989). the following food taxa were used in these calculations: small mammals, birds, reptiles, invertebrates and plant matter. Distribution of prey body weight in the diet of weasel was determined in accordance with C l e v e n g e r  (1993), and prey classification on the basis of zonation was performed according to published data from G i t t l e m a n  (1985) on predators (table 1). the statistics program sPss 10 (1999) was used for processing data.Results and Discussionthe difference between diet compositions of weasels living in the three regions of Hungary (table 1) was not significant (χ2 = 3.47, df = 8, P = 0.90). the dominant food source of the weasel consisted of small mammals (mean: 84.7%, table 1), the consumption of which significantly increased (χ2 = 33.81, df = 12, P < 0.001) from winter (55.6%) to summer-autumn period (92.9 – 93.8%, Fig. 1). M c D o n a l d  et al. (2000) found a similar seasonal trend in small rodent consumption. Besides the most important Microtus voles, Apodemus mice were also frequently eaten. On agricultural lands, consumption of Microtus spp. (t a p p e r  1979, s i d o r o v i c h  1997, M c D o n a l d  et al. 2000, present study), in forests bank vole Clethrionomys glareolus (s i d o r o v i c h  1997, J e d r z e j e w s k a  & J e d r z e j e w s k i  1998), while in new zealand, where the weasel is an alien predator, consumption of Mus spp. (k i n g  et al. 1996) was considerable, and they showed varied small mammal hunting techniques. Occurrence of common hamster Cricetus cricetus, as frequent rodent in plains areas of Hungary (H e l t a i  2002) was found in one sample only. Consumption of shrews was also rare. Lagomorphs, similarly to studies performed in Poland (Jedrzejewska & Jedrzejewski 1998) or Belarus (s i d o r o v i c h  1997) was not found in Fig. 1. seasonal diet composition (percentage relative frequency of occurrence) of weasel in Hungary. seasonal sample sizes are given in brackets.111the samples, however in Great Britain, rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus occurred in diets of weasels in great proportions (D a y  1968, t a p p e r  1979, M c D o n a l d  et al. 2000). egg consumption, contrary to most studies (t a p p e r  1979, k i n g  1989, J e d r z e j e w s k a & J e d r z e j e w s k i  1998, M c D o n a l d  et al. 2000), was not identifiable. secondary important food of the weasel consisted of birds (mainly small-sized passerines, table 1), which was closest to the findings of t a p p e r  (1979), however medium-sized birds were hunted rarely. Bird consumption decreased (Fig. 1) gradually from winter (27.8%) to autumn (5.4%). Wasp in winter, lizard in spring and undetermined blood in autumn occurred in the diet. amphibians (s i d o r o v i c h  1997, J e d r z e j e w s k a  & J e d r z e j e w s k i  1998, M c D o n a l d  et al. 2000) and reptiles, mainly lizards (t a p p e r  1979, k i n g  et al. 1996, M c D o n a l d  et al. 2000) were preyed upon rarely by weasels in other examinations, as well. Domestic animals were not found in the diet, and consumption of grasses only in the winter diet indicated the low importance of plants. similar diet compositions were found in winter and spring (χ2 = 4.48, df = 4, P = 0.344), or in summer and autumn (χ2 = 0.15, df = 1, P = 0.903), but the difference between these two season pairs was significant (χ2 = 18.94, df = 4, P < 0.001). the prey consumed was small-sized (less than 300 g); weasels preyed mainly on 15–50 g weight animals (92.6%). the majority (88.4%) of prey consumed by the weasel were terrestrial (table 1), and aquatic prey did not occur in the samples examined. standardized trophic niche breadth was very narrow (Bsta = 0.07±0.03, seasonal mean±se), and decreased from winter (0.17) to autumn (0.02). summarized, the main foods of the weasel were easy accessible small-sized, terrestrial preys, mainly small rodents, and secondarily birds; trophic niche breadth was typically narrow.Table 1. Diet composition of weasels in Hungary. Regions: transdanubian (tD), between Danube and tisza (bDt) and transtiscian (tt). Prey weight (w) categories: 1 = below 15 g; 2 = 15–50 g; 3 = 51–100 g; 4 = 101–300 g). Prey zonation (z) categories: t = terrestrial and mainly terrestrial but sometimes arboreal; a = arboreal and mainly arboreal but sometimes terrestrial. n = number of items in each taxa, O% = percentage relative frequency of occurrence.Prey tD bDt tt sumFood items w z n n n O%Common vole Microtus arvalis 2 t 5 13 20 38.8Field vole Microtus agrestis 2 t 1 2 3.1Bank vole Clethrionomys glareolus 2 t 1 1.0Other voles Microtinae spp. 2 t 1 8 2 11.2Field mouse Apodemus spp. 2 t 10 6 16.3norway rat Rattus norvegicus 4 t 1 1.0Dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius 2 a 1 1.0Common hamster Cricetus cricetus 4 t 1 1.0Other Rodentia spp. 2 t 1 5 3 9.2shrews soricidae spp. 1 t 2 2.0Perching birds Passeriformes spp. 2 a 5 4 9.2Undetermined medium-sized birds 3 a 1 1.0Lizards sauria spp. 1 t 1 1.0Blood 1 1.0social wasps Vespidae spp. 1 t 1 1.0Plant matter  1 1 2.0no. of samples 9 83 63no. of items 7 47 44  112a c k n o w l e d g e m e n t sthis work was supported by the Wildlife Fund of Ministry of agriculture and Rural Development, and the Bolyai scholarship (JL). thanks to the anonymous referees for the helpful comments.L I T E R a T u R EBiró z., Lanszki J., szemethy L., Heltai M. & Randi e. 2005: Feeding habits of feral domestic cats (Felis catus), wild cats (Felis silvestris) and their hybrids: trophic niche overlap among cat groups in Hungary. 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Diet of the weasel in Hungary

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