Mustela erminea

photo credit: Fabio Bretto (Flickr)

ID

  • Summer coat is brown with white underbelly, but turns pure white in the winter with a black tail-tip (Smithsonian)
  • Short legs and white feet (Audubon)

Distribution

  Credit: Smithsonian Institution

Reproduction

  • Mate in June or July, but egg implantation is delayed for 9 to 10 months
  • Active gestation lasts about 1 month
  • Litter of 4-9 young born in April (Audubon)

Behavior

  • Highly adaptable predators, sometimes climbing trees or swimming to catch their prey (Smithsonian)
  • Will lick the blood of their prey before eating it
  • Kill all available prey and store the excess (Audubon)

Food Habits

  • Voles, mice, and young rabbits
  • Will eat earthworms, frogs, and squirrels (Smithsonian)
  • Shrews, birds, lizards, and many kinds of insects (Audubon)

Size/Life Cycle

  • Average Measurements: 272mm males, 240mm females (total length), 80g males, 54g females (total weight) (Smithsonian)

Predators

  • Hawks, owls, house cats, other carnivorous mammals and snakes (Audubon)

Habitat

  • Variable
  • Open woodland, brushy areas, grasslands, wetlands, and farmland (Audubon)