Stoat

The stoat is a small carnivorous mustelidae belonging to the group of weasels Mustela. The species occupies all temperate forests and arctic and sub-Arctic Europe, Asia and North America. There are 38 sub-species of stoat, classified according to geographical distribution. The stoat is currently not running any risk of extinction, but some populations are threatened primarily by habitat loss.

The stoat is one of the smallest members of the order of Carnivores. Males can be up to 33 cm long and about 120 grams and the females are much smaller, about half this size.

Looking at the body it has short legs, and ends in a long tail that can reach about 40% of the total body length. The neck is relatively long and ends in a small triangular head with rounded ears and long whiskers. The coat of the stoat varies according to season.

In spring and summer this animal is chocolate brown on the back, with yellowish-white belly, in the autumn and winter the coat becomes thicker and completely white.

One of the characteristics of this species is the tip of the tail is always black.
The stoat is a solitary predator that prefers to hunt at night or at dusk, moving rapidly in a zigzag pattern and can range anything up to 15 km in one night.

Their preferred prey is small rodents, insects, amphibians, small birds and often their eggs and juveniles. They are excellent tree climbers and good swimmers, and can also catch fish or crustaceans, are the usual food sources are unavailable.

An advantage is the ability, conferred by its small size, to pursue their prey into burrows. The stoat has to eat several times a day to meet the needs of its fast metabolism and spends much of his time hunting. It is also known for his habit of storing leftover food in burrows or tree holes, to consume later.

The prey is usually killed with a bite to the back of the neck. The stoat occupies an intermediate position in the food chain and is prey to other animals such as foxes, minks, and birds of prey.

The Portrait of King Louis XVI of France is painted wearing a robe decorated with stoat skin.

The mating season is annual and begins in late spring, early summer the stoat are opportunistic polygamous and mate several times throughout the season. Pregnancy is relatively long for so small an animal and takes about nine months, due to a deliberate mechanism that can delay of the implementation of the eggs in the uterus until the following spring.

The cubs are born around March in nests built by females in burrows or tree holes. Each litter has on average of 4 to 9 pups, which are born blind and covered in white fluff. Their growth is very fast and within eight weeks the stoat are already independent.

Females reach sexual maturity at maturity and usually mate during the following breeding season. Males take longer to grow and become adults after one year.
The stoats often suffer from a parasitic infestation caused by the nematode Skrjabingylus nasicola, which occupies the nasal area and in many cases causes the death of the host.

Relationship with humans
The main interest of man in the stoat is the pelt especially the white winter coat which is considered very valuable at least since the Middle Ages. For this reason, the stoat was and continues to be killed in large numbers, using traps or, recently, on farms where it is bred for this purpose.

The skin of the stoat is exploited mainly for collars or borders of cloaks and coats. In France, the skin was seen as a symbol of royalty and it is common for monarchs to appear in public with robes of stoat, typically the white pelt dotted with the black spots corresponding to the black spot on the tip of the animal’s tail.

In the UK the traditional garb of the members of the House of Lords includes a collar of stoat fur, which today is replaced by an artificial equivalent.

The need to continually feed and the effectiveness of the stoat as a predator of small mammals highlighted the possibility of using the animal for other purposes.
The animal was introduced to New Zealand with the aim of controlling over populations of rabbits, which were damaging native ecosystems.

Unfortunately, the idea was a disaster as the stoat, instead of hunting the rabbits they preferred to attack the nests of native birds such as the kakapo and kiwi, which had no experience against these attacks. The stoat is now considered a pest and there is an ongoing program to eradicate them.

Coat of Britain with points stoat
Heraldry and symbolism

The stoat, perhaps due to their coat that is luxurious nice and valuable, has captured the imagination of man. In Japan it is considered a symbol of good luck and medieval and Renaissance Europe was seen as a symbol of purity.

The allegorical representations of stoats in Europe often include the Latin motto Malo Mori Quam Foedari, which can lead to the death before dishonour, alluding to the supposed preference of the animal’s death when faced with the possibility of soiling their coat.

Some well known examples of a stoat as a symbol of purity include a painting by Leonardo da Vinci and a portrait of Elizabeth I of England where the virgin queen is represented with a stoat in her lap.

Another reference to the coat of the stoat is found in heraldry, a skin known as the point of a stoat, represented by a white field decorated with elaborate black spots. Variants are accepted like the counter-stoat, where the dotted white is a black field, and erminois where the field is golden.

Points of the stoat coat used in the coat of arms belonged to the Dukes of Brittany and is still today part of the official flag of Brittany.