Editing Mustelidae (section)

== Ecology ==
[[File:Stoat killing a rabbit.jpg|thumb|[[Stoat]] killing a [[European rabbit|rabbit]]]]
The [[Fisher (animal)|fisher]], tayra, and martens are partially arboreal, while badgers are [[fossorial]]. A number of mustelids have aquatic lifestyles, ranging from [[semiaquatic]] minks and [[River otter (disambiguation)|river otter]]s<!--intentional link to DAB page--> to the [[aquatic mammal|fully aquatic]] sea otter, which is one of the few nonprimate mammals known to [[Tool use by sea otters|use tools]] while foraging. It uses "anvil" stones to crack open the shellfish that form a significant part of its diet. It is a "[[keystone species]]", keeping its prey populations in balance so some do not outcompete the others and destroy the [[kelp]] in which they live.

The [[black-footed ferret]] is entirely dependent on another keystone species, the [[prairie dog]]. A family of four ferrets eats 250 prairie dogs in a year; this requires a stable population of prairie dogs from an area of some {{convert|500|acre|km2|abbr=on}}.