Also known as the ermine, the stoat is a mustelid. Mustelids are carnivorous mammals like otters, weasels, ferrets and wolverines. Stoats are highly adaptable creatures. They are bigger than weasels and are as potent as big cats.
Highly skilled killers, stoats can subdue and devour prey, like rabbits and hares that are much bigger than themselves. They usually kill by a single bite on the neck. Stoats are quite well-known for ‘hypnotizing’ rabbits. They hunt both by day and night, don’t like to be out in the open and so tend to hunt along ditches, hedgerows and walls or through meadows and marshes.
Apart from rabbits, stoats also hunt many rodents, including voles, as well as birds. Stoats can climb trees and that is how they gain access to birds’ nests.
Stoats were native to Eurasia and America. They were brought to New Zealand in the 19th century in order to control the rabbit population. This however, had a devastating effect on the bird population in New Zealand.
Picture Credit : Google