stoat - Stoats and humans, Heraldry, Subspecies

A mammal of family Mustelidae, native to Europe, Asia, and North America (Mustela erminea); in summer, resembles a large weasel (length, 50 cm/20 in) with black tip to tail; winter coat (ermine) white, with black tail tip; inhabits woodland and tundra; eats mainly rabbits.

iStoat
Conservation status
Least concern (LR/lc)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Mustelidae Subfamily: Mustelinae Genus: Mustela Species: M. erminea
Binomial name
Mustela erminea Linnaeus, 1758

The stoat (Mustela erminea), also known as the short-tailed weasel or the wild otter, is a small mammal of the family Mustelidae. In most areas it coexists with the Least Weasel (Mustela nivalis, also known as the European common weasel), and in this situation competition is reduced by the Least weasel, the smallest member of order Carnivora, generally taking smaller prey and the stoat slightly larger prey.

The stoat can be found almost throughout the northern temperate, subarctic and arctic regions, that is in Europe, Asia, Canada and the United States (though it is absent from the eastern US). This kind of coat is very similar to the coat of the long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata), a related animal of about the same size which also moults into white in the northern part of its range, and it is easy to confuse these kinds of weasels. The North American name for the stoat, the "Short-tailed weasel" arose because its tail length distinguishes it from the long-tailed weasel. Both species can be distinguished from the Least Weasel because the Least weasel always lacks a black tip on its tail.

The stoat is territorial and relatively intolerant of others in its range, especially others of the same sex. In spite of being such a small animal, the stoat'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. Communication (and also location of prey) occurs largely by scent, since the stoat as typical of mammals has a sensitive olfactory system.

Stoats and humans

The skins were prized by the fur trade, especially in winter coat, and used to trim coats and stoles.

Heraldry

In heraldry, the term "ermine" is used to mean a white field strewn with small bell-shaped designs called ermine-spots. Variants include "ermines" or "counter ermine" (white spots on black), "erminois" (black spots on gold), and "pean" (gold spots on black);

In Renaissance emblem books, the ermine was a symbol of purity, sometimes supplied with the motto Malo Mori Quam Foedari which could mean "Rather a bad death than defilement", for the ermine was reported to suffer death rather than soil its fur. The allegorical ermine realistically represented by Nicholas Hilliard as the virgin Queen Elizabeth's pet (illustration, right), has been painted unrealistically as furred ermine, heraldically.

Since the ermine, the heraldic creature of Brittany, had been adopted as a royal emblem by kings of France, there may be a sly reference to the unsuccessful suit of the Duke of Alençon in 1583.

The ermine in allegory and as a Renaissance emblem

Subspecies

Mustela erminea Yellow-necked ermine Mustela erminea ? Range: Northern Shaanxi, China Mustela erminea alascensis Mustela erminea algiricus Mustela erminea anguinae Mustela erminea angustidens Mustela erminea arctica Mustela erminea audax Mustela erminea bangsi Mustela erminea celenda Mustela erminea fallenda Mustela erminea ferghanae Mustela erminea gulosa Ermine haidarum Mustela erminea haidarum Range: Queen Charlotte Islands, Canada Mustela erminea herminea Mustela erminea hibernica Mustela erminea imperii Mustela erminea initis Mustela erminea invicta Mustela erminea kadiacensis Mustela erminea kanei Mustela erminea labiata Mustela erminea leptus Mustela erminea lymani Mustela erminea microtis Mustela erminea mortigena Ermine weasel Mustela erminea muricus Hondo stoat Mustela erminea nippon Range: Central and northern Honshū, Japan Olympic ermine Mustela erminea olympica Range: Olympic Peninsula, Washington Ezo Stoat Mustela erminea orientalis Range: Hokkaido, Japan Mustela erminea polaris Mustela erminea pusilla Mustela erminea richardsonii Mustela erminea rixosa Mustela erminea salva Mustela erminea seclusa Mustela erminea semplei Mustela erminea streatori Mustela erminea vulgaris Mustela erminea whiteheadi