Here’s an ermine in a tree playing peek-a-boo. Presumably most of you know that the ermine isn’t really a separate species, but the white winter color phase of the stoat, also called the short-tailed weasel (Mustela ermina). Sadly, people like to slaughter this beast in the winter so they can get an all-white fur coat: ermine coats were all the rage back in the 1920s.
The change in winter from brownish to white is a form of “adaptive plasticity” adopted by several mammals and birds, including the Arctic fox, the Arctic hare, and the ptarmigan. Some environmental cue, either temperature or shorter days (I’m sure scientists know which, but I don’t), causes a genetic switch to be thrown, changing the pigmentation from brown to white. This is of course adaptive for both prey (who are less likely to be seen) and predators (ditto).
The notes accompanying the video, by photographer Chris Cooper, say this:
This was a wild animal I found while walking in the woods. I was fortunate enough to have my phone to take this video to be able to share with everyone.
Here’s the non-winter coat of the ermine, or rather stoat. It’s cute, no? Why on earth would you want to kill these to make a coat?
For more fun with stoats, check out this amazing video of a stoat having a go at a cat. Those weasels are tenacious!
If that’s a short tail, I can’t imagine what a long one would be like.
It also seems that the white winter coat might be maladaptive in the particular environment where this one was found — it really stands out!
b&
Maybe that’s why it’s hiding in the hole! 🙂
Of course — stotally obvious, now!
b&
*groan*
Understandable reaction, if not animal puns, what are these threads fur? At least, that’s how I’ve always pelt.
Threads are fur coverin’ the emperor’s wrinkly willy….(weaving from another thread…)
Don’t try to weasle out of it now!
I suspect that he is ferreting out the answer…
Must tell Ed.
Don’t know what you’d expect to hear from him in reply…you see, last I heard, he’s a little hoarse….
b&
Of course, of course.
Ermines! They are the symbol of Brittany, where I lived last year. In regional symbolism and heraldry, the ermine is often shown wearing a little scarf (sometimes the scarf is made of ermine, which redirects the appearance from “cute” to “creepy”). The modern flag of Brittany is modeled after the USA flag but with ermine spots instead of stars. It’s like France’s version of the Texas star.
The white morph also has a pink nose, unlike the summer morph.
It seems pigment production changes with season, and I guess the color change in the fur is brought by turnover of hairs. I do not know what triggers the color change, but a hormonal change controlled by day length seems most likely. Temperatures would be different in the extremities versus the head and body.
It also appears that the eye color is more blue in winter, darker in summer (unless this is due to lighting).
That ermine is sooo cute!
However, stoats are an introduced pest in NZ and, along with introduced possums and introduced rats, are killing off our native birds, driving them ever closer to extinction. Many are endangered because of them. Weasels and possums thrive in our climate. (Rats thrive everywhere!) Unless the’re on a secure farm, I want those in this country dead.
Just as religious crackpots exported from Down Under thrive in our climate. Perhaps we could arrange a trade …
I guess they are close to the Mink as well. Have never seen Ermine around here but we do have Mink. Wish I could get a picture some time.
I wish my skin would get more pigment in the summer but be white in winter to absorb vitamin D. My only comeback to those who mock my pale colour is, “yeah, well you could get rickets!”
Why would anybody mock your skin color? Especially in this day and age!
b&
I dunno, people think they’re funny.
For the same reason they do with those with who have red hair… I was ‘carrot’ at school, though my hair got darker in middle age.
That ermine is so cute. It’s like he wants to go out and see what’s going on with that weird machine-y thing that is looking at him, but his white fur is embarrassing him so he just can’t make himself do it….yet the curiosity…then the nakedness of the white fur….but the curiosity….oh the shameful nakedness!
Hey, I found the ermine!!!!
And no, I had no idea that ermines were stoats.
I didn’t really know what ermines were other than “some sort of weasel”. I think it is a reflection of my proletariat upbringing.
Remember this?
https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/stoats-weasels-and-worms/
Ah, before my time on WEIT.
Aww, the winter one is soooo cute. The non-winter one looks as if he’s got lower-fang-under-bite;-)
The tip of the tail, not visible on the top photo, remains black, a fact I found fascinating as a child (and still do).
When you look at illustrations of kings in fairy tales their coats are red, with a white lining with small black spots. The number of spots told you the number of ermines killed.
video, not photo
I had heard that ermine were minks. I’ve come to agree with Matt Groening (in a Life in Hell comic): “Everything you’ve been taught is a lie.”
What an adorable video! Great job, Chris. I would SO love to run across some unusual little critter like that. Where was this vid taken?
I have a pure white kitty cat with a similar face (including that intangible “I just have to snuggle with you” quality).
What kind of heartless monster could ever kill such a sweet creature. It’s entire presentation serves to make people want to keep them safe.
Is your white kitty deaf? I understand a lot of white kitties our. Our new little light gray tabby from the Humane Society apparently had 5 all-white siblings and a calico mother.
Stoats are quite common in my garden; they are beautiful animals, and I watch them whenever I get the chance. I wish that there were a few more, to kill off the voles that eat the seedlings in my vegetable plot. Here in southern Scotland they seem to be in transition to staying brown all the year round. I last saw a white one perhaps ten tears ago. More recently, I have seen them starting to go white in late January, but never quite losing that last trace of brown along their spines.
A curious experience with a white winter coat a few weeks ago, The rabbits here in Nova Scotia change coats for the winter, and evidently believe that the best strategy on spotting a potential predator is to keep perfectly still – after all, they are dressed in white and there’s snow on the ground. The daft thing is, one did it for me recently even though there was no snow. Normally he would have been off like a shot, but he sat there quietly sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb. He even let me take out my old Hasselblad 500, use the light meter, focus and expose – twice (and that’s remarkable if you know how loud the clatter of a Hassie is!) Sadly just had a normal lens on, so not a worthy photo even as close as I was.
I had a law professor who warned of “weasel words” – words that changed meaning in the middle of an argument, like (some kinds of) weasels change their fur. Typical “weasel word” argument: You have accepted “god” as a ground of being. My “god” says kill all the infidels. What? You don’t agree? But you have already accepted the existence of “god”! [And there is the secondary allusion to “weaseling” your way put of a bad argument.]
What beautiful creatures.
Love these posts! I’m a long-time mustelophile, even more than an ailurophile.
They have something of a similar appeal.