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To the left are the tracks of the smallest predator in the world. The weasel has an all white winter coat, the slightly larger stoat or ermine (Mustela ermina) has a black tail tip.

You will not meet a stoat and a weasel in the same territory because, being bigger, the stoat simply drives the smaller weasel off. The weasel is just some twenty centimetres long, and the tail makes up almost half of the total length.

 

There will be a real mouse year this year and the weasel as well as the fox are eager mouse hunters. The strong snow crust has created a poor oxygen situation at the soil surface, and all kinds of mice can be seen moving about. The first line of tracks in the photo was made by a weasel; a fox, following by very short steps, has studied the little hunter’s success.