Stoat Sighting

The Stoat is a small mammal in the family which also includes weasels, mink, otters, ferret, badgers, and skunks. The Stoat is also known as the short-tailed weasel and they can live up to 7 years of age. Stoats have a long, tube-shaped body and neck, short legs and a lengthy tail. Stoats prefer lowland farms and forests, and their habitats include suburban areas. Stoats are meat-eating and their primary food source is the rabbit, voles, rats, mice and birds. Stoats will kill larger prey then they can consume in one sitting so they perform what’s called ‘surplus killing’ and store the extra food for later. When alarmed, a stoat can release a powerful musky smell from its anal glands like that of a skunk. Female stoats produce up to a dozen “kits” young per year. Male stoats will sometimes mate with young female kits in the nest, so that they are pregnant before they even leave their mothers.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/stoat-sighting-randy-bilesky?published=t

http://www.delta-optimist.com/opinion/blogs/blog-stoat-sighting-1.2357544

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