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Mammals · 17 species guides

Small Carnivores: Badgers, Otters & Mongooses

Small carnivores are compact meat-eating mammals outside the big cat and bear size classes, including stoats, weasels, badgers, otters, mongooses, meerkats, raccoons, ferrets, martens, civets, hyenas and relatives such as the binturong and kinkajou; they occupy predator and scavenger roles across every continent and include some of the most adaptable mammals in human-dominated landscapes.

Mustelid body plan
Stoats and weasels are long and low with short legs — built to enter burrows. Otters are elongated with webbed feet and dense fur. Badgers are heavy-set and low-slung with a striped face. Pine martens are arboreal with a bushy tail and yellow throat patch.
Stoat versus weasel
Stoats are larger with a black tip to the tail in most populations. Weasels are smaller and lack the black tail tip. Both turn white in winter in northern populations, but the stoat's black tail tip remains visible against snow.
Otter features
Otters have streamlined bodies, webbed feet and dense waterproof fur. River otters have a long tapered tail; sea otters float on their backs and use tools to break open shellfish. Giant otters of South America are social and vocal.
Social species
Meerkats stand upright on hind legs as sentinels — a distinctive posture. Hyenas have robust builds and sloping backs; spotted hyenas have powerful jaws. Raccoons have bandit-mask facial markings and dexterous front paws.

Small carnivore is an everyday grouping for the compact hunters and scavengers that sit below bears and big cats in size — stoats, badgers, otters, mongooses, raccoons and many others. Taxonomically they belong to several orders: mustelids (stoats, weasels, badgers, otters), herpestids (mongooses, meerkats), procyonids (raccoons), viverrids (civets, binturongs) and hyaenids (hyenas). What unites them in popular usage is size, diet and the roles they play as predators of rodents, fish and invertebrates, or as opportunistic scavengers.

Several species in this group are among the most adaptable mammals alive. Raccoons thrive in cities across North America and beyond. Badgers persist in British farmland despite persecution. Meerkats — mongooses of southern African grassland — are social sentinels with a profile far exceeding their ecological weight. Hyenas, though larger, are included here because most people group them with carnivores rather than with big cats, despite their closer genetic relationship to cats than to dogs.

Key facts

  • Small carnivores belong to several taxonomic families — mustelids, herpestids, procyonids, viverrids and hyaenids — united by size and diet rather than shared ancestry.
  • Hyenas are more closely related to cats than to dogs, despite their dog-like appearance and their grouping with carnivores in everyday usage.
  • Stoats can turn white in winter in northern populations; the black tail tip distinguishes them from weasels even in white pelage.
  • Sea otters use tools — rocks — to break open shellfish, one of the few mammal examples of consistent tool use in the wild.
  • European badgers live in social underground setts that may be occupied for decades and passed between generations.
  • Persecution, road mortality and habitat loss affect many small carnivores; badger culling and bovine tuberculosis policy remain contentious in Britain.

How to recognise them

The features that separate this group in the field, in the order they are usually most useful.

Mustelid body plan
Stoats and weasels are long and low with short legs — built to enter burrows. Otters are elongated with webbed feet and dense fur. Badgers are heavy-set and low-slung with a striped face. Pine martens are arboreal with a bushy tail and yellow throat patch.
Stoat versus weasel
Stoats are larger with a black tip to the tail in most populations. Weasels are smaller and lack the black tail tip. Both turn white in winter in northern populations, but the stoat's black tail tip remains visible against snow.
Otter features
Otters have streamlined bodies, webbed feet and dense waterproof fur. River otters have a long tapered tail; sea otters float on their backs and use tools to break open shellfish. Giant otters of South America are social and vocal.
Social species
Meerkats stand upright on hind legs as sentinels — a distinctive posture. Hyenas have robust builds and sloping backs; spotted hyenas have powerful jaws. Raccoons have bandit-mask facial markings and dexterous front paws.
The confusion pairs
Stoat versus weasel: black tail tip and larger size in stoat. Badger versus raccoon: badgers have a striped face and low-slung body; raccoons have a masked face and ringed tail. Otter versus seal: otters have visible legs and often swim on their back at the surface; seals are flippered with no visible limbs. Civet versus genet: genet is not listed; civets are heavier with a longer tail and occur in Africa and Asia.

17 small carnivores guides

Search or filter by conservation status. Every guide carries sourced facts, IUCN status and FAQs.

Showing 1-17 of 17 animals

Animal group
A European badger with a distinctive black-and-white striped face emerging from a woodland sett entrance at twilight.
Least Concern

Mammals

B

Badger

Meles meles (Linnaeus, 1758)

The burrow architect of Old World woodlands — social underground and solitary above ground.

Europe · Western Asia

Open guide
A binturong with shaggy black fur and a prehensile tail draped over a branch in tropical Asian rainforest canopy.
Vulnerable

Mammals

B

Binturong

Arctictis binturong (Raffles, 1821)

The bearcat of the canopy — shaggy, prehensile-tailed and vanishing with the forest.

South-east Asia · India

Open guide
An African civet with a masked face, spotted coat and erect black dorsal crest walking along a forest path at night.
Least Concern

Mammals

C

Civet

Civettictis civetta (Schreber, 1776)

Africa's masked night wanderer — famous for musk, misunderstood as a species.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Open guide
A creamy-white and brown sable ferret with a dark mask across its eyes, stretched out long and low on a wooden floor, looking alertly towards the camera.
Domesticated; not a threatened species

Mammals

F

Ferret

Mustela furo

The long, playful, domesticated polecat that has shared human homes and warrens for over two thousand years.

Worldwide (as a domestic pet and working animal) · Europe

Open guide
Fossa with reddish-brown coat, long tail and cat-like head on a mossy branch in Madagascar rainforest
Vulnerable

Mammals

F

Fossa

Cryptoprocta ferox (Bennett, 1833) — family Eupleridae

Madagascar's top predator — looks like a cat, related to mongooses, and eats lemurs.

Madagascar · Remaining forest across the island

Open guide
Honey badger with silver dorsal cape standing alert in savanna
Least Concern

Mammals

H

Honey Badger

Mellivora capensis (Schreber, 1776) — family Mustelidae

Loose skin, a venom tolerance and a reputation that is mostly, awkwardly, deserved.

Sub-Saharan Africa · Arabian Peninsula

Open guide
A spotted hyena with a sloping back and mottled coat standing alert on golden savanna grassland at dusk.
Least Concern

Mammals

H

Hyena

Crocuta crocuta (Erxleben, 1777)

Africa's misunderstood predator — matriarchal, vocal and far more successful than lions at hunting.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Open guide
Kinkajou with golden fur clinging to a rainforest branch
Least Concern

Mammals

K

Kinkajou

Potos flavus (Schreber, 1774) — family Procyonidae

A raccoon relative with a prehensile tail and a tongue built for flowers — and an accidental pollinator.

Central and South America — southern Mexico to Brazil and Bolivia · Tropical rainforest canopy

Open guide
A meerkat standing upright on its hind legs on red Kalahari sand, alert and scanning the horizon, with the dark eye-patches and slender body typical of the species.
Least Concern

Mammals

M

Meerkat

Suricata suricatta

The Kalahari's cooperative sentinel, where every member takes a turn standing guard.

Southern Africa · Kalahari Desert

Open guide
American mink with dark brown fur standing on a riverbank among reeds at the edge of slow-moving water
Least Concern in native North America

Mammals

M

Mink

Neogale vison (Schreber, 1777) — family Mustelidae

Secure in North America, devastating in Europe — fur farming turned a river predator into a continent-scale invasive.

Native: North America · Invasive: Europe, Asia, South America and Iceland

Open guide
A small Asian mongoose with grizzled brown fur standing alert on a forest trail in tropical South-east Asia.
Least Concern

Mammals

M

Mongoose

Herpestes javanicus (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1818)

Swift snake hunters of the tropics — from Pakistani scrub to Malaysian rainforest edge.

South Asia · South-east Asia

Open guide
A sleek otter floating on its back in clear river water, holding a small fish between its paws.
Varies by species

Mammals

O

Otter

Subfamily Lutrinae — 13 species of aquatic mustelids worldwide

River acrobats and kelp-forest hunters — mustelids built for water on every continent.

Every continent except Australia and Antarctica

Open guide
A European pine marten with rich chocolate-brown fur and a creamy-yellow throat bib, perched on a moss-covered branch in a woodland, its long bushy tail trailing behind.
Least Concern

Mammals

P

Pine Marten

Martes martes

The cat-sized tree-climber bringing red squirrels back to British woods.

United Kingdom · Ireland

Open guide
A common raccoon with a grey-brown coat and black eye mask foraging at the edge of a woodland pond at dusk.
Least Concern

Mammals

R

Raccoon

Procyon lotor (Linnaeus, 1758)

The masked omnivore of the Americas — clever, adaptable and increasingly urban.

North America · Central America

Open guide
Stoat in brown summer coat with black-tipped tail standing upright on a stone wall in moorland habitat
Least Concern

Mammals

S

Stoat

Mustela erminea (Linnaeus, 1758) — family Mustelidae

A weasel that turns white in winter, kills prey ten times its weight, and once trimmed royal robes.

Eurasia and North America · Tundra, moorland, farmland and woodland edge

Open guide
Lowland streaked tenrec with black and yellow quill stripes foraging in leaf litter on Madagascar forest floor
Varies by species

Mammals

T

Tenrec

Order Tenrecidae — around 30 species in Madagascar and the Comoros

Madagascar's answer to everything — shrews, hedgehogs, otters and moles, all in one island family.

Madagascar · Also the Comoros — but the radiation is overwhelmingly Malagasy

Open guide
A least weasel (Mustela nivalis) with a slender russet-brown body, creamy-white underside and short tail, standing alert on its hind legs among grass and leaf litter.
Least Concern

Mammals

W

Weasel

Mustela nivalis

The world's smallest carnivore, slim enough to chase a vole down its own burrow.

Europe · Asia

Open guide

Conservation: what this group faces

Small carnivores are often overlooked in conservation planning because many species remain common in parts of their range, but several face serious declines. Giant otters are Endangered across South America, lost to habitat degradation and hunting. The binturong and several civets are threatened by deforestation and capture for the pet trade. In Britain, badgers are caught in a long-running conflict over bovine tuberculosis policy, while pine martens are recovering following centuries of persecution. Road mortality affects otters, badgers and pine martens wherever roads cross their territories.

Fund mammal protection Current appeals

Small carnivores: frequently asked questions

What counts as a small carnivore?
There is no strict definition. The term usually covers compact meat-eating mammals below bear and big cat size — stoats, weasels, badgers, otters, mongooses, meerkats, raccoons, ferrets, martens, civets and hyenas. The group spans several unrelated families united by ecological role rather than ancestry.
What is the difference between a stoat and a weasel?
Stoats are larger, with a black tip to the tail in most populations. Weasels are smaller and lack the black tail tip. Both can turn white in winter in northern regions, but the stoat's black tail tip remains visible against snow.
Are hyenas dogs or cats?
Neither, though they look dog-like. Hyenas belong to Hyaenidae, a family more closely related to cats than to dogs. Spotted hyenas have powerful jaws and complex social structures; brown and striped hyenas are more solitary scavengers.
What is a meerkat?
A small mongoose of southern African grassland and desert. Meerkats are highly social, with individuals taking turns as sentinels standing upright on hind legs. They are herpestids — the mongoose family — not squirrels or prairie dogs despite a superficial resemblance.
Do sea otters use tools?
Yes. Sea otters use rocks as anvils to break open hard-shelled prey such as sea urchins and clams, often while floating on their backs. They store tools in loose skin folds under the forearm. This is among the best-documented examples of tool use in wild mammals.
Are small carnivores endangered?
Some are. Giant otters, several civets and the binturong are threatened by habitat loss and hunting. Sea otters recovered from near-extinction through legal protection but remain vulnerable to oil spills and prey declines. Many mustelids are widespread but poorly monitored; population trends are uncertain for several species.

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