The Natural History of Weasels and Stoats: Ecology, Behavior, and ManagementField naturalists have observed the activities of weasels for centuries. Their descriptions were often accurate but sometimes misinterpreted the animals' behaviors and underlying explanations for those behaviors. Organized natural history became one of the roots of the science of ecology in the 1920s and by the 1960s scientists had begun to study the biology of weasels with all the critical, objective advantages of modern theory and equipment. Until