{{Short description|Species of carnivore}} {{Speciesbox | name = Lesser grison | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Helgen, K. |author2=Schiaffini, M. |date=2016 |title=''Galictis cuja'' |volume=2016 |article-number=e.T41639A45211832 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T41639A45211832.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref> | image = Galictis cuja 365111140 (cropped).jpg | image_caption = | genus = Galictis | species = cuja | authority = (Molina, 1782) | range_map = Distribuição geográfica do furão-pequeno.png | range_map_caption = Lesser grison range }}
The '''lesser grison''' ('''''Galictis cuja''''') is a species of mustelid from South America.<ref name = MSW3>{{MSW3 Carnivora | id = 14001155 | page = 606}}</ref>
==Description== left|thumb|Close-up of head Lesser grisons have a long, slender body, short legs, and a bushy tail. They have a long neck and a small head with a flattened forehead and rounded ears. They are smaller than the closely related greater grison, with a head-body length of {{convert|27|to|52|cm|abbr=on}} and a tail {{convert|14|to|19|cm|abbr=on}} long. Adults weigh from {{convert|1.2|to|2.4|kg|abbr=on}}. Females are slighter smaller and more slender than males.<ref name=Yensen2003>{{cite journal |author1=Yensen, E. |author2=Tarifa, T. | year = 2003 | title = ''Galictis cuja'' | journal = Mammalian Species |volume=728 | pages = 1–8 | doi = 10.1644/728| doi-access = |s2cid=198124064 }}</ref>
The top of the head, the back and flanks, and the tail have coarse black guard hairs with buff-coloured tips over a softer undercoat, giving them a grizzled, greyish colour. The remainder of the body is black or nearly so, apart from a pale, buff-coloured stripe running from the forehead to the shoulders along the lower margin of the grey furred area. The feet are webbed, with five toes ending in sharp, curved claws.<ref name=Yensen2003/>
==Distribution and habitat== Lesser grisons are found throughout most of southern South America from sea level to as high as {{convert|4200|m|abbr=on}} elevation. They are found in a wide range of habitats, although generally near water, including grasslands, forests, scrub, and mountain meadows. They are also known to inhabit agricultural land and pasture in some areas.<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" /><ref name=Yensen2003/>
Four subspecies of ''Galictis cuja'' are recognised: * ''G. c. cuja'' – southwestern Bolivia, western Argentina, central Chile * ''G. c. furax'' – southern Brazil, northeastern Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay * ''G. c. huronax'' – south-central Bolivia, eastern Argentina * ''G. c. luteola'' – extreme southern Peru, western Bolivia and northern Chile
==Biology and behaviour== left|thumb|Swimming Lesser grisons are carnivorous, feeding on small to medium-sized rodents, as well as rabbits, birds, frogs, lizards, and snakes.<ref name=Yensen2003/> They can also eat fruits, such as avocados.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Schmitt |first1=Artur |last2=Favretto |first2=Mario Arthur |title=Registro de frugivoria em furão-pequeno (Galictis cuja) no Brasil |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348621499 |journal=Revista Acta Ambiental Catarinense |date=2021 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=129–133|doi=10.24021/raac.v18i1.5550 |doi-access=free }}</ref> They are among the major predators on cavies, including wild guinea pigs, and also of nesting grebes.<ref name=Burger1984>{{cite journal | author = Burger, J. | year = 1984 | title = Grebes nesting in gull colonies: protective associations and early warning | journal = American Naturalist | volume = 123 | issue = 3 | jstor=2461099 | pages = 327–337 | doi=10.1086/284207| bibcode = 1984ANat..123..327B | s2cid = 85305462 }}</ref>
They are semiplantigrade, walking partly on the soles of their feet, and despite the webbing, their feet are adapted more for running and climbing than for swimming. They possess anal scent glands that spray a noxious chemical similar to, but probably weaker than, that of skunks. They are monogamous, hunting together when raising their litters of two to five young.<ref name=Yensen2003/>
Lesser grisons hunt primarily during the day, locating their prey at least partly by scent. They are either solitary or live in small family groups of parents and offspring, which travel together in single file. They are said to be particularly fierce, and to play with their prey for up to 45 minutes before eating it. During the night, they sleep in hollow trees, natural crevices, or excavated burrows. Burrows may be as deep as {{convert|4|m|abbr=on}}, and have entrances obscured by leaves.<ref name=Yensen2003/>
The lesser grison was found to be a host of an intestinal acanthocephalan parasitic worm, ''Pachysentis gethi''.<ref name= "Pereira2016">{{cite journal | doi=10.1016/j.rmb.2016.10.010| title=Rediscovery of ''Pachysentis gethi'' (Acanthocephala: Oligacanthorhynchidae), a parasite of wild lesser grison ''Galictis cuja'' (Carnivora: Mustelidae) from Brazil| year=2016| last1=Muniz-Pereira| first1=Luís C.| last2=Corrêa| first2=Pilar| last3=Bueno| first3=Cecília| last4=Vieira| first4=Fabiano M.| journal=Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad| volume=87| issue=4| pages=1356–1359| doi-access=free}}</ref>
==Relations with humans== thumb|Roadkill Lesser grisons can be tamed if raised from a young age. They were used in the past to hunt wild chinchillas, pursuing them down burrows in a similar manner to ferrets, although chinchillas are now too rare for this to be viable.<ref name=Jimenez1996>{{cite journal | author = Jiménez, J.E. | year = 1996 | title = The extirpation and current status of wild chinchillas ''Chinchilla lanigera'' and ''C. brevicaudata'' | journal = Biological Conservation | volume = 77| issue = 1 | pages = 1–6 | doi = 10.1016/0006-3207(95)00116-6| bibcode = 1996BCons..77....1J }}</ref> They are still sometimes kept to control rodents on farms,<ref name=Yensen2003/> although they may also be hunted, especially where they are thought to prey on domestic poultry.<ref name=Brooks1991>{{cite journal | author = Brooks, D. | year = 1991 | title = Some notes on terrestrial mustelids in the central Paraguayan Chaco | journal = Mustelid and Viverrid Conservation | volume = 4 | url = http://www.smallcarnivoreconservation.org/sccwiki/images/b/b3/Number_4.PDF | pages = 5–6 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131217200122/http://www.smallcarnivoreconservation.org/sccwiki/images/b/b3/Number_4.PDF | archive-date = 2013-12-17 }}</ref> They have also been reported to be amongst the most frequent species among mammalian roadkill in Brazil.<ref name=Yensen2003/>
Lesser grisons can act as a reservoir for Chagas disease.<ref name=Wisnivesky1992>{{cite journal | author = Wisniveski-Colli, C.| year = 1992 | title = Sylvatic American trypanosomiasis in Argentina. ''Trypanosoma cruzi'' infection in mammals from the Chaco forest in Santiago del Estero | journal = Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene | volume = 86 | issue = 1 | pages = 38–41 | doi = 10.1016/0035-9203(92)90433-D| pmid = 1566301 |display-authors=etal}}</ref>
The bodies of lesser grisons have also been used as magical charms in Bolivia, where their pelts are stuffed with wool and decorated with ribbons and paper to be used in ritual offerings to Pachamama.<ref name=Yensen2003/> One apparent sacrificial burial from Argentina has been dated to 1,420 BP. It was interred together with human remains, wearing a decorated collar, placed on an animal pelt and associated with numerous other funerary goods and bodies of mice.<ref name=Yensen2003/>
==References== {{Commons category|Galictis cuja}} {{Reflist}}
{{Carnivora|M.}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q238561}}
Category:Mammals of Argentina Category:Carnivorans of Brazil Category:Mammals of Bolivia Category:Mammals of Chile Category:Mammals of Paraguay Category:Mammals of Peru Category:Mammals described in 1782 Category:Taxa named by Juan Ignacio Molina