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An informal unfinished 2011 study in suburban upstate New York found no cat remains in 24 scat or stomach samples, and an earlier published study found no cat in 226 Massachusetts samples. [ 87 ] Poisoning
Some of the larger wild predators of ermines are minks, martens, fishers, bobcats, coyotes, and large owls and hawks. Occasionally a domesticated cat or dog may kill an ermine. Their small agile bodies help them evade these predators, while also allowing them to compete with their predators for food in more barren months. [8]
The least weasel is the product of a process begun 5–7 million years ago, when northern forests were replaced by open grassland, thus prompting an explosive evolution of small, burrowing rodents. The weasel's ancestors were larger than the current form, and underwent a reduction in size to exploit the new food source.
A stoat surplus killing chipmunks (Ernest Thompson Seton, 1909) Multiple sheep killed by a cougar. Surplus killing, also known as excessive killing, henhouse syndrome, [1] [2] or overkill, [3] is a common behavior exhibited by predators, in which they kill more prey than they can immediately eat and then they either cache or abandon the remainder.
The stoat is similar to the least weasel in general proportions, manner of posture, and movement, though the tail is relatively longer, always exceeding a third of the body length, [clarification needed] [24] though it is shorter than that of the long-tailed weasel. The stoat has an elongated neck, the head being set exceptionally far in front ...
It is a long, slender-bodied weasel, with fur ranging from yellowish to brown to near black. It may be confused with the fisher (Pekania pennanti), but the marten is lighter in color and smaller. Identification of the marten is further eased by a characteristic bib that is a distinctly different color than the body.
In Montagne Noire (France), Ruthenia, and the early medieval culture of the Wends, weasels were not meant to be killed. [9] According to Daniel Defoe also, meeting a weasel is a bad omen. [10] In English-speaking areas, weasel can be an insult, noun or verb, for someone regarded as sneaky, conniving or untrustworthy.
Globally, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List [1] but is a Conservation Strategy Species in Oregon [2] and Fully Protected in California [3] The species is known by a variety of names, such as ring-tailed cat, miner's cat, civet cat, and cacomistle (or cacomixtle), though the last of these can refer to B. sumichrasti.