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Photo: G. Bradley |
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UK
Safari Tip:
Get help identifying stoats, weasels and other land mammals with a fully
illustrated fold-out chart - click here
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Latin name: Mustela erminea
Size: Head to base of tails around 25cms. The tail is approximately 10cms long.
Distribution: Found throughout the UK.
Months seen: All year round
Food: Rabbits, fish, game birds, rats, mice, voles and reptiles.
Habitat: Woodlands and farmland.
Special features: The stoats fur is usually reddish-brown coloured on its back, and creamy-white on the underside. The tail has a black tip.
Stoats in the north change the colour of their fur during the winter months. They go completely white, except for the tip of the tail which remains black. This is believed to be so they can camouflage themselves against snow. The white fur is known as "ermine", and stoats in ermine used to be trapped and killed so their fur could be used to make clothing.
 Stoats can
overpower prey up to six times larger than themselves. They usually kill their prey with a bite to the back of the neck.
The main food of the stoat is rabbit, but it will take almost any meat including game birds and poultry. For this reason the stoat has been persecuted for centuries by farmers and gamekeepers.
Stoats have a strong sense of smell and excellent hearing, but their eyesight is poor in comparison. I took these photos in full view of this stoat from just five metres away and it didn't notice me. It was pouring with rain which helped to cover my scent and any sounds I made.
Note: Stoats in Ireland are slightly smaller in size and are known
locally there as "weasels". Weasels in the rest of Britain are a completely separate species -
Click here for more about weasels
Photo of a pair of stoats
Video Clip of a Stoat with a Rabbit
(Requires Windows Media Player - 472kb)
UK Safari Mammal Section
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