Just seen a stoat type animal

[Hollie 21]

Hiya guys.

 

I have just seen a little animal like a stoat but white, it was white except a large light brown patch on its back and it had a bushier tail................what was it?? i have seen many stoats and weasels but never a white one

 

[Guest jt750]

Stoats and weasels can go white in hard winters ...the fur is called ermine

[waidmann 105]

they are white in winter with a black tip on the tail.

[Malt 379]

Yep, sounds like a winter stoat. (Ermine)

 

Anything like these pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not my photos, links from photobucket.

Edited March 1, 2010 by maltenby

[Hollie 21]

Well, i never knew that, thanks guys

[COSH 14]

Not many weasels go white in the UK at all though

[Hollie 21]

Not many weasels go white in the UK at all though

 

 

ummmmm, strange, well this was defo white, with a brown patch, like i said i haven't ever seen anything like this before

[COSH 14]

Not many weasels go white in the UK at all though

 

 

ummmmm, strange, well this was defo white, with a brown patch, like i said i haven't ever seen anything like this before

It will have been a stoat

[J Darcy 5,871]

It will have been a stoat in ermine. As far as i am aware our weasels do not change colour at all for we are too far south for that to happen. You're very lucky to have seen that as they are rare to see when in their white pelage.....Great Spot... JD

[RicW 67]

Yeah, stoat that hadn't shed all its summer coat. Cold weather, as said, kicks off the moult and the new fur grows out white. They shed the white in spring.

 

Ric

[COSH 14]

It will have been a stoat in ermine. As far as i am aware our weasels do not change colour at all for we are too far south for that to happen. You're very lucky to have seen that as they are rare to see when in their white pelage.....Great Spot... JD

Depends where you live J.Darcy... they are very common in my area in the winter, ive trapped literally thousands of them through my life as keeper and also the hardness of the winter doesnt seem to be a factor (like another post said) as I seemed to trap as many ermine in mild winters as i did in hard winters

The very odd white weasel has been trapped, but ive never seen or trapped one myself

[RicW 67]

COSH - You may well be right about the moult being seasonal rather than weather related. I'd hazard a guess that it is a mutation that is beneficial in areas that have regular snow, but disadvantageous where there is little snow. A pure white stoat down this end would stand out like, like, like a white thing on a brown background, while a brown stoat would show clearly against snow. So stoats in Scotland which have the mutation would survive to breed more successfully than those without, and the reverse dahn sarf. Evolution in action!

 

Ric

 

PS Hollie, you've started quite a thread here!

[COSH 14]

COSH - You may well be right about the moult being seasonal rather than weather related. I'd hazard a guess that it is a mutation that is beneficial in areas that have regular snow, but disadvantageous where there is little snow. A pure white stoat down this end would stand out like, like, like a white thing on a brown background, while a brown stoat would show clearly against snow. So stoats in Scotland which have the mutation would survive to breed more successfully than those without, and the reverse dahn sarf. Evolution in action!

 

Ric

 

PS Hollie, you've started quite a thread here!

I think your right, ive been told it has something to do with local genetics, but im affraid im lost when it comes to this subject. I can only go off what ive found.

[Hollie 21]

Well im in Norfolk if that makes any difference and yes it did stand out a mile!