* Evolution: Weasels, like all animals, evolved over millions of years. There wasn't a single "first" weasel.
* Fossil Record: While we have fossil evidence of weasel-like creatures, it's difficult to pinpoint the exact moment the species we recognize today as a weasel came into existence.
* Human Observation: Humans have been aware of weasels for a long time. However, early civilizations didn't have a scientific system for classifying animals like we do now, so it's hard to know when they were specifically recognized as a distinct species.
What we do know:
* Weasels are part of the Mustelidae family, which includes badgers, otters, and wolverines. This family has been around for at least 30 million years.
* The earliest known weasel fossils are from the Miocene epoch, which lasted from about 23 million to 5.3 million years ago.
So, while we can't say when the first weasel was "discovered," we can say that they've been around for a very long time.