looduskalender.ee

A few cold autumn days don’t press anyone to change their coat at once. In its summer coat the smallest mammal predator in Estonia and in the world can only be confused with the slightly bigger stoat or ermine. In their winter coat the difference is easier to see – the weasel has an all white winter coat but the  tip of the stoat’s tail stays black. But are these comparison marks really needed? There is no co-existence, because the stronger stoat forces the weasel off its territory.

 

The habitat of the weasel can be described by one characteristic – it must hold its basic prey: voles and mice. Because of its small size and suppleness it can move in the tunnels and hides of its prey animals and colonise them, so it is extremely adaptable. Even its winter nest is lined with the hair of mice. The necessary food intake is quite large, or one third of its own average weight of 50 grams, and to avoid death of starvation it must eat at least once during a 24-hour period.

 

On its paths it leaves tiny paired tracks, and it is active by day as well as by night. A couple of hours of hunting is interspersed with rest. To survey the neighbourhood weasels sit up on their hind legs.