Artist Chris Baker

Ravenwolf's Guide to Redwall Mustelids

Hello, everybeast. Ravenwolf the lynx here. Now what, you may be asking, is a mustelid, and what is this page for? Well, I'll tell you. First of all, a mustelid is any animal in the weasel family known as Mustelidae. Animals in this family are: true weasels, badgers, otters tayras, martens, wolverines, and other lithe carnivorous creatures . Since the musteline vermin in Brian Jacques's Redwall series are all known as true weasels (Genus Mustela), I will concentrate on these critters(they're the ones causing all the confusion anyway).

In answer to the second question, I created this page to clear up one of the greatest puzzlements of the Redwall series: those musteline vermin. It all began on the Redwall Encyclopedia's discussion board, where I was asked what a stoat was. I told them, and in the process I had to explain the other two main mustelines as well (ferrets and weasels). This made me known as the resident "Redwall Biologist" (I am a pre-vet biology major in college). Since then, I have had many E-mails regarding this confusing subject. So, I finally decided to start a little page that would clear up this confusion. Why the confusion? Well, it's mainly because two different cultures have different names for the same animals. It surprised many people to learn that there are stoats in North America after all, it's just that the American field guides do not explain it, nor do the dictionaries. So there you have it wee beasties, my reason for creating this page. Read on.