The least weasel is the smallest carnivore in the world, barely bigger than a chipmunk, and one of the few North American mammals whose coat turns fully white for winter. Ohio’s 107 records, gathered around forested sites like Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Wayne National Forest, skew toward the colder months, with January and November well ahead of summer.
That winter bias likely reflects visibility more than behavior: a small white animal against bare ground or snow is far easier for someone to notice than the same weasel hunting mice through thick green cover in July. Ohio hasn’t assigned it a numeric NatureServe rank (SNR, unranked).
Full species profile
