#i'll post weasels + fox without text some other day

[jonathankai]

I've seen people call animal Xie Lian weasel, stoat or ferret and depict him as bigger or smaller animal with or without black-tipped tail. And I'm not sure which animal he's supposed to be, but there are certain differences between these three kinds, and it feels like sometimes people are mixing them up. So I thought I'd create charts focusing on most obvious differences - size and fur colour.

But first something important. English is not my first language and I've just learnt that 'weasel' can be used as a common term for stoats, ferret and... well, weasels. The last one are also called "least weasels" and that's what we'll use.

Without further ado, let's go!

IN CONCLUSION:

If it has white fur and a black-tipped tail - it's a stoat.

Least weasels and stoats are significantly smaller than ferrets.

"Weasel" is a common term for stoats, ferrets and weasels/least weasels (in UK).

This is not some vital knowledge, just thought it would be cool info to share. However people draw him, each weasel Xie Lian is beautiful and important <3

P.S.: Now I'm curious - where did animal forms for hualian even come from? Was it a fan's idea? Is it something from MXTX?