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The stoat (Mustela erminea), also known as the Eurasian ermine or ermine, is a species of mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern regions of North America.
The American ermine or American stoat (Mustela richardsonii) is a species of mustelid native to most of North America. The specific epithet refers to Arctic explorer and naturalist John Richardson .
Skulls of a long-tailed weasel (top), a stoat (bottom left) and least weasel (bottom right), as illustrated in Merriam's Synopsis of the Weasels of North America. The long-tailed 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 short-tailed weasel is the common name in North America for two species once considered a single species: . Stoat or Beringian ermine (Mustela erminea), native to Eurasia and the northern portions of North America
The genus Mustela includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets, and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bodies and short legs. The family Mustelidae, or mustelids (which also includes badgers, otters, and wolverines), is often referred to as the "weasel family".
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The higher stoat numbers reduce the rodent population and the stoats then prey on birds. [6] For instance, the wild population of the endangered takahē dropped by a third between 2006 and 2007, after a stoat plague triggered by the 2005–2006 mast wiped out more than half the takahē in areas where stoat numbers were not limited by trapping. [7]
Stoat killing a rabbit. The fisher, tayra, and martens are partially arboreal, while badgers are fossorial. A number of mustelids have aquatic lifestyles, ranging from semiaquatic minks and river otters to the fully aquatic sea otter, which is one of the few nonprimate mammals known to use tools while foraging. It uses "anvil" stones to crack ...