Facts about Ermines
In an unsuccessful attempt to control the rabbit population, it was introduced into New Zealand. It is found almost everywhere throughout the northern temperate, subarctic and Arctic regions, of Europe, Asia, and North America. It is also known as stoat. The Ermine are largely nocturnal or crepuscular but will sometimes come out during the day. It is a good swimmer. The ermine's coat is a rich medium brown with an off-white belly. In winter, the coat is thicker and in regions that experience an inch or more of snow for at least forty days of the year, the color changes to clean white. Ther white fur was highly prized, and used in the robes of the Lord Chief Justice of England. Male ermines are much larger than the females They share the same family i.e. Mustelidae with other weasels, mink, otters, ferret, badgers, polecats, the wolverine, martens, the tayra and the fisher. They can grow 30 cm long. The ermine is native to the area between the 40th parallel (north) and the beginning of the Arctic Circle, which encompasses most of northern Eurasia and North America. The ermine is a carnivore. It eats insects, rabbits; rodents such as the mouse, vole and rat; other small mammals; birds and their eggs and young; and sometimes fish, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. It is a very skillful tree climber and can descend a trunk headfirst, like a squirrel. In spite of being such a small animal, the ermine's gestation is among the longest reported for mammals (11 months) because of the adaptation of delayed implantation, or embryonic diapause, in which a fertilized egg is not implanted in the uterus until months later. The animal's "real" gestation is much shorter. This is presumably an adaptation to the highly seasonal environment in which the ermine lives. The ermine is capable of killing animals much larger than itself. Male ermines do not help raise offsprings. When it is able to obtain more meat than it can eat it will engage in "surplus killing" and often stores the extra food for later. When this is the case, it will often kill by breaking the prey's neck without marking the body, presumably so its cache does not spoil easily. It breeds once a year, producing several young kits (or kittens) per litter, and its mating system is promiscuous. The winter ermine(the animal's white fur) has been used in art as a symbol of purity or virginity. They have a black tip to their tale which remains black in all seasons (despite of the fact that the color of their fur changes in the snowfall). The ermine is territorial and intolerant of others in its range, especially others of the same sex. |
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