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Habitat
- Live in a den (2 feet long)
- North America
- Burrows (3 feet 10 inches)
- Trunks of old trees
- Found around roads, farm buildings
- Abundant of water
- Found with small rodents
Behavioral characteristics
- Dot't hibernate
- Active during the day
- if irritated they will let out an odor
- Can remain in heat for days
- Consume 50% of body weight
- Males are dominant over females
- Resourceful
- Perform the weasel dance
Internal Characteristics
- Warm blooded
- Have 6 ribs
External Characteristics
- Vary in size
- Vary in color
- 8 inches long 21/2 ounces
- 13 inches 6 ounces
- 16 inches long and 12 ounces
- Long skinny bodies
- Short legs
- Round ears
- Males are larger
- Smaller weasels have no black tip on tail
KPCOFGS:

Common name:Weasel
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genus: Erminea
Species: linnaeus

1. http://icwdm.org/handbook/carnivor/Weasels.asp

2. http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Mustela_nivalis/

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Habitat
- Africa
- Asia
- South tip in Africa
- Western Asia
- Grasslands
- Forest
- Burrows
Behavioral Characteristics
- Very aggressive, fights started are fights finished
- Takes whatever they need from other without a care that its not theirs
-  Nocturnal
- eat whatever is available
- 7 to 10 weeks old the mom has a baby
- 6 months full grown and able to go out on it own
Internal Characteristics
- Organs adapted to water and land
- Very strong skull
External Characteristics
- Thick hair
- Black with a wide grey stripe all the way from head to tail
- Stinky liquid
- Strong teeth
- Built stocky
- Underwater vision
KPCOFGS:
Common name: Honey Badger
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order:Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genus: Mellivora
Species: m.capensis

1. http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/honey-badger-ratel

2. http://www.theanimalfiles.com/mammals/carnivores/badger_honey.html

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Habitat

- Coastal waters off the Northern Pacific
- Canada
- Russia
- Japan
- Washington
- California
- Live in water and land
- Found in the Alaskan waters
Behavior Characteristics
- Make use of what they have
- Only animals that use their recourses
- Live mostly in the water
- Dive up to 330 feet
- Groom their own fur
- Slide around for fun
- Drape kelps over their body to help them float but not drift away
External Charachetristics
- Brown, Black, as they get older fur around their neck becomes white
- Webbed feet
- Flat tail
- Close able ears, nose
- Small forepaws
Internal Characteristics
- When younger they have
light colored organs
- When older the organs get darker
- Lungs are 2.5 times the size of on land animals
KPCOFGS:

Common name: Sea Otter
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
CLass: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genus: Enhydra
Species: lutris

1. https://defenders.org/sea-otter/basic-facts

2. https://seaworld.org/Animal-Info/Animal-Bytes/Mammals/Sea-Otter

3. https://seaotterfacts1.weebly.com/inside-the-otter.html

4. http://seaotters.org/pdfs/southernsea.pdf

5. https://www.otter-world.com/otter-evolution/

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Natural selection:
The Weasel is going to survive the best and have the best luck with natural selection. Especially being 8 inches long and 21/2 ounces. The reason that they are going to have the best luck is because they are available to squeeze into smaller spaces to hide from prey. They also are able to consume 50% of their body weight so they are always eating, they also have a variety of food that they eat so if a population that they eat goes extinct they are going to be ables to eat other species of animals.

The Descent of Modification:
The traits that were passed through out all of the species in the mustilde group are, small long bodies, round ears, 5 toed feet with long claws, small eyes and short legs. Each of these traits was passed down by an ancestor. Each of the traits are going to be inherited differently with the way that the recent species make use of the traits. The traits that are passed down from generation to generation are the useful traits that each specie uses. Each species has these traits but they used them all to a different advantage.

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Physical characteristics
- they all have fur
- short legs
- small bodies
- round eyes
- long bodies
- short legs
- thick fur
Characteristics that are shared
- 5 toed feet with claws
- long body
- small
- rounded ears
- small eyes
- short legs
- carnivores
Behavior characteristics that are shared
- crawl into tiny spaces to get pray
- dig their burrows
- reproduce whenever in the year
- track their food down then grab it and go
- steel other animals tools
- play with their pray

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Taxonomy gives information, by showing the relationships and the similarities between two species. Species like weasels, sea otters, and the honey badger, they all have the same taxonomy up until you get to the Genus and Species.  For the sea otter the genus is Enhydra, while in the Weasel it is Erminea, and in the Honey badger it is the mellivora. Each of the Genus names are different for each group along with the species names. The species name for the sea otter is lutris, for the weasel it is linnaeus, and for the honey badger the name is m.capensis. This shows that each species is related in a numerous of ways but they are going to have the differences that are going to show throughout the group.

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Jaw
Time period: late precambrian
100,000 years ago
https://auction.catawiki.com/kavels/3563139-fossil-mandible-american-mink-mustela-vison-2x-33-mm

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This is a picture of a males chromosome in the otter, it allows you to see the difference in the male and the female they are relativity the same size.
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1415-47572007000600011

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- Mustelids become sexually mature 8-10 months after they are born.
- Deliver the offspring a year after they are physically mature
- Development of the embryo is 39-40 days
- Interspecies hybrids occur
- Most are seasonal breeders
- Embryos are dark colored because of the amount of lipids that they have
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f3b8/69a6701e7bb11035119faf36745f0bd0fafc.pdf

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Skull
3.2- 3.4 million years old
Time period: precambrian
https://www.wired.com/2011/03/the-bear-otter/

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This is a picture of a female otters chromosome,you can see the relative size and the relative shape.
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1415-47572007000600011

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6 million years old
Time period: Miocene
Top of the mouth
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4141208/Fossil-ancient-giant-otter-discovered-China.html

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Time period: late miocene
23 million years ago
Skull
http://www.fossilmall.com/EDCOPE_Enterprises/vertebrates/CF015/CF015.htm

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In a otter there are 36 chromosomes, in an American mink there are also 36 chromosomes. In the mustelidea family the amount of chromosomes in an organism in this family varies from 30 to 50 chromosomes.
In the Otter, the chromosomes are the same number of chromosomes as the American mink, the shape and the size is relatively close to each chromosome. With the chromosomes being around the same color and around the same shape. The physical characteristics of the Otter and the American mink are going to be simulare due to the chromosomal structure.

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The mustelids mate through a process known as non-random mating.  This process, known as selective mating, is when the male chooses who they are going to mate with.  For example, the female honey badger releases as sent when they are in oestrus.  The males follow the scent, mate with that female, and protect that female for a short period of time until they are finished mating.  Non-random mating impacts the evolution because the genes of the male go to a specific female, rather than at random, giving certain families a specific gene pool.
http://www.honeybadger.com/social.html
Emigration and immigration:
Immigration and emigration has changed over time with the mustelidae family. Within the sea otter group they will migrate but they will not migrate fare from their habitat.   Over the years they have migrated to different countries but now they stay containeed to where they are. If the migrate it is to find someone new to mate with and it is not far from where they already were. Because the mustelids tend to not immigrate from their homes, they are not spreading their genepool to different areas, keeping the same genes in the same general area.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/sea_otter/natural_history.html

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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1601-5223.1967.tb02109.x

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Speciation:
The speciation for the mustelidae family is gradual. The reason being that the evolution is gradual is because most of the species in the mustelidae family do not have thick fur. Over a long period of time the thickness of the otter's fur has increased, making it the animal with most fur. The development of thick fur is due to the fact that they do not have any blubber on their bodies to help keep them warm, a necessity for an animal living in water. Seven million years ago the sea otter evolved into the otter that exists in nature today.  Before this evolution, otters were mainly a land creature.  Otter began to live in water as well as land, causing them to have adaptations for survival.  he otters began to change, giving them thick fur and webbed feet so they could survive in the water as well. The changes in the physical characteristics of the otter were made slowly over time so they could adapt to their environment, making it gradual speciation.
https://www.otter-world.com/otter-evolution/
Evolution:
The mustelids went through divergent evolution. Each specie within this group evolved for its own needs.  For example. the sea otter needed to be able to swim to live in the water.  Over time, more otters began to have webbed feet, giving them a swimming advantage.  The mustelids had a small number of different species at the time of the ice age.  Populations of these species began to get separated by the sheets of ice and experienced reproductive isolation.  As a result the species became new, more complex species due to isolation, making it divergent evolution.
https://synapsida.blogspot.com/2012/11/weasels-in-stone-mustelid-evolution.html

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This is a fossil of Mustelid.
4.3 million years ago.
Time period :Sthenictics
https://synapsida.blogspot.com/2012/11/weasels-in-stone-mustelid-evolution.html

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Jaw
3.8 million years ago
Time period : precambrian
http://idahonews.com/news/local/38-million-year-old-fossil-of-new-river-otter-species-discovered-in-idaho

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Five toed feet with claws
Small long body rounded ears small eyes and short legs
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/weasel/Mustelids.shtml