Ermine (Short-tailed Weasel)

Physical Features

The Ermine is also known as the Stoat or Short-tailed Weasel.  It has a larger and longer tail with a prominent black tip, which distinguishes it from other weasels. Ermines have a chocolate brown coat with a white underbelly and a black tip on the tail in spring and summer but their coat turns entirely white except for the black end of its tail in winter. It has short legs and a long body and neck with a triangular shaped head that has small round ears, small, bright eyes and long whiskers. The male Ermine is slightly larger than the female with an average weight between 3 to 15 ounces and a length between 7 to 13 inches.

Habitat

Ermines are found in northern biomes such as taigas and tundra though they also inhabit marshes, open spaces or rocky areas next to woodlands. They occur all over Canada, northern USA, and Eurasia. The range of the Ermine has extended since the late 19th century to include New Zealand.

Diet

Ermines are carnivores that feed on rabbits, small insects, rodents, birds, amphibians and small mammals. Their sharp teeth enable them to feed on animals larger than themselves. When the ground is entirely covered with snow, the Ermine will hunt entirely under the snow for small rodents. They are very adaptable to their diet depending on their habitat. Those in Siberia are known to prey on snowy owls, arctic foxes, lynx, gyrfalcons, hawks and other large mammals and birds of prey.

Meat

Ermine meat has a similar taste to chicken meat.

Behavior

Ermines scent mark their territory using urine, faeces and other types of scents. They occupy burrows and nest chambers of the rodents they kill. They use the rodent prey’s skins and under fur to line the nest chamber. The chambers are found in places among logs piled against the walls of houses, old and rotting stumps, under tree roots, in heaps of brushwood, haystacks, in bog hummocks, in the cracks of vacant mud buildings, in rock piles, rock clefts, and even in magpie nests.

The males and females normally live separately, but close to each other. Each Ermine has several dens dispersed within its range with a single den having several galleries, mostly within 30 cm of the surface. The male reaches maturity at 12 months while the female reaches maturity at 2 months of age. During the breeding season, in late spring and summer, the male's testes are enlarged and of testosterone concentration in the plasma increases. Spermatogenesis takes place in December and the males are fertile from May-August, after which the testes regress. They are not monogamous and have litters frequently being of mixed paternity. After a gestation period of 280 days, 3 to 13 young are born each mating season. The young are taught how to hunt by their mother when they are 8 weeks old after which they are ready to mate. Ermines have a lifespan of 4 to 7 years.

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