Mary Allen
Ermine are carnivores that consume mainly small mammals, especially voles (Microtus spp., Clethrionomys spp.) and mice (Peromyscus spp). Shrews and rabbits may also be taken and occasionally other small vertebrates and insects.
The ermine (Mustela erminea) is a nimble mouse hunter. But often the hunter becomes the hunted. Then a well-covered landscape is essential for survival.
The ermine inhabits varied, open landscapes. It avoids the forest. It eats meat and in Switzerland specializes in voles. Ermines live solitarily or in mother families. They are territorial.
An ideal ermine habitat is well connected. It offers a wealth of hiding places, hunting grounds and migratory axes: the ermine hunts its prey in meadows. The young are born in a rearing chamber under branches or boulders. Hedges with plenty of cover, herbaceous fringes or stream banks make it easier for the male ermine in spring to search for large, often dangerous, females who are ready to mate.
In some areas, stoats are becoming increasingly rare because they lack suitable small structures and migration corridors. Along with the ermine, other species that depend on structurally rich landscapes are also disappearing.
Portrait: Nimble runabout with two suits
Slender as a willow, weighing an average of around 300 grams and about as long as a school ruler: These physical characteristics make it easy for the ermine to rummage through mouse passages, heaps of branches or undergrowth. When it’s not resting, the ermine is lively. It occasionally performs acrobatic capers. Science has not yet found a conclusive explanation for these dance routines. Close-fitting ears, short legs and whiskers on the snout complete the image of the tunnel hunter. Ermines vary greatly in size and weight depending on their habitat. Animals from the Alps are smaller than their counterparts from the Central Plateau. Males are larger than females (in the same habitat).
The dorsal fur of the ermine is reddish-brown in summer, the belly yellowish-white. In winter, the entire fur takes on a snow-white coloration. A single area of fur remains bathed in rich black all year round, namely the lush tail tassel. It is the stoat’s sure differentiator from its very similar looking little relative, the little weasel.
The horror of the water vole
The ermine’s proverbial nimble mobility has its price. The slender ermine needs a lot of energy to keep warm and fit. It has to hunt down up to 40 percent of its body weight every day.
In Switzerland, the stoat specializes in voles, preferring water voles (Arvicola terrestris). The chubby voles live underground in meadows and throw up the well-known piles there. In agriculture, the ermine is therefore very welcome as a mouse hunter. It eats an average of one to two mice a day. When the young are reared in the spring, the need increases. In the mountains, where the water vole is absent, the ermine gives way to the snow vole (Chionomys nivalis). Hunting expeditions can take an ermine several kilometers. If the favorite food is rare, the Animal of the Year 2018 will switch to other species of mice, birds and insects or even taste a vegetarian snack.
Are stoats and weasels the same?
The solution to the riddle: “Weasel” is the generic term for the two species ermine (Mustela erminea) and mouse weasel (Mustela nivalis). Both species are native to Switzerland. The ermine used to be known as the «Big Weasel».
What does the ermine eat?
Ermines are predators and belong to the mustelid family. They hunt during the day and at dusk, in winter their activity shifts to the night hours. Their prey consists mainly of small mammals up to the size of rabbits. In addition to rats, mice and moles, they also hunt birds and lizards.
Are ermine and marten the same?
Ermines belong to the martens and have the typical physique for them – elongated with short legs. In summer, the animals wear chestnut to cinnamon brown fur on top. This can turn white in winter. The tip of the tail is always black.
Is an ermine a ferret?
The term “marten” (mustelidae) actually means the family of martens, which includes the “real marten” (martens) and the ferret (Mustela putorius furo), stoats, badgers, mink, otters and weasels.
What do ermines live in?
Ermine prefer woodlands near rivers, marshes, shrubby fencerows, and open areas adjacent to forests or shrub borders. Although ermine live primarily on the ground, they climb trees and swim well. Tree roots, hollow logs, stone walls, and rodent burrows are used as dens.
Are ermines carnivores?
Carnivores
How do ermines survive?
The ermine is well adapted to living in this harsh environment. They make their dens in the old roots of a tree or in the crevice of a rock. Ermines are capable of having several dens. Ermines may make their dens in the roots of trees farther south, but there are no trees on the tundra.
What are ermines known for?
The white fur is called “ermine,” and even where the animal is called a “stoat,” when it has its winter coat it may be known as ermine, or being “in ermine.” Commercially, this animal has been of importance for the fur trade, particularly its valuable winter coat of white.
Can ermine be pets?
No, these creatures do not make good pets. They are wild animals, and have quite sharp teeth. In many places, these mammals are also illegal to own as a pet. Instead, consider a domesticated relative, the ferret.
Do ermine eat squirrels?
Some basic components of the ermine diet are squirrels, lemmings, rats, shrews, chipmunks, mice, hares, voles and rabbits. When sustenance is scant, ermines also sometimes eat decaying carcasses — carrion. Female ermines typically consumer smaller prey items than the males.
Will ermine eat chickens?
The main damage they cause is raiding chicken coops and injuring or killing domestic birds. They feed on warm blood, and their victims will be found with bites to the head and neck.
Can ermine swim?
Ermine swim and climb well, but spend most of their time on the ground where they move by bounding, covering 50 cm (20 in) with each bound, or by running. They are capable of traveling at speeds up to 13 km/hr (8 mph) for short distances. When startled or pursuing prey, an ermine can leap 1.8m (6 ft).
Are ermine rodents?
The ermine is a very slender carnivorous mammal that belongs to a larger group of weasels. It is also part of the Mustelid family.