A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1367 entries
stoat
The stoat is a small long-bodied predator of the weasel family with a black-tipped tail, hunting rodents and rabbits by pursuit into their own burrows. It is a fierce animal for its size and takes prey several times its weight. In the north, it turns white in winter, keeping only the black tail tip, and in that coat it is called ermine.
Etymology
The word is Middle English and its further origin is not settled, though a Norse source meaning something like a bold or rash one has been suggested. The American name for the same species is short-tailed weasel, which is unhelpful next to a short-tailed relative, and stoat for the animal and ermine for the winter coat is the more useful English arrangement.
Notes
The white change is triggered by day length rather than by cold, so an animal turns white on schedule whether or not snow arrives. Stoats have delayed implantation: a female mates in summer and the fertilized egg does not implant until the following spring, so a litter is born nearly a year after mating. Young females are sometimes mated in the nest before their eyes are open.