144 Mammals of Eastern Asia 
SUBORDER ARCTOIDEA (CANOIDEA SIMPSON) 
THE WEASELS, WOLVERINES, BADGERS, OTTERS 
(FAMILY MUSTELID^) 
This is a widely diversified family of small to moderate-sized 
carnivores, for which inclusive characteristics are hard to find. 
The legs are often very short; the feet have five toes, all reach- 
ing the ground. The face is generally quite short, while the 
braincase is proportionately long. There is only one upper molar 
on each side. The mustelids are neither cat-like, dog-like, bear- 
like, nor civet-like. 
This family, which is represented in every large land mass in 
the world except Australia and New Guinea, in the Orient 
comprises three major divisions : running and climbing types, 
Weasels, Martens, Wolverines ; digging types with large claws, 
Badgers, Honey Badgers, and Ferret Badgers; and partly 
web-footed swimming types, Otters. The Skunks of Amer- 
ica are also members of the family. In practice the Weasels, 
Martens, and Wolverines are each put in a separate subfamily, 
as are the Badgers, Honey Badgers, and Sun Badgers. But the 
distinctions in some instances are not very clear. 
THE WOLVERINES (SUBFAMILY GULONIN^) 
Here belongs only the genus Galo, a large, long-legged mem- 
ber of the Weasel family which bears a very dense pelage and 
lives in the north temperate and subpolar regions of Eurasia 
and America. The typical species is Gulo gitlo. Genera also be- 
longing to the Guloninse are found in South America. 
The Wolverines are stout, almost bear-like animals with 
bushy tails, hairy soles, short ears, and four premolars each 
side, above and below. The color of G. gulo is dark brown, paler 
and grayer on the crown and cheeks. A band of buffy brown in 
the Siberian form begins on each shoulder, passes backward 
