Stoat

Description

Stoats have the elongated, slender body typical of many martens, with rather short legs and a short tail. In the summer coat they show the typical colouration of many weasels with brown upperparts and white underpart. In the winter coat it is completely white, with the exception of a black tail tip, which makes it clearly distinguishable from the common weasel. However, this change of coat does not take place in all parts of the range. In warmer areas, stoats are brown and white all year round, but in the far north they never lose their white winter coat. The animals reach a snout-vent length of 17 to 33 cm, the tail is four to twelve cm long and their weight is 40 to 360 g. 

Stoats inhabit a range of landscape types, although near-water habitats seem to be preferred. There is no apparent biotope attachment, instead there is a close association with the occurrence of Eurasian water voles, field voles and common voles. Structurally rich landscapes, e.g. with meadows, hedges and copses or residential gardens, are typical. Closed forests, however, are avoided. Stoats can be found at altitudes of up to 3400 m.

The text is a translation of an excerpt from Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermelin). On wikipedia the text is available under a „Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike“ licence. Status: 02 September 2021