Scientific name:
Mustela erminea

Natural spread:
Europe, Asia, North America

in long-stretched, slim marten is our ermine, whom occasionally also big-weasel will name, to distinguish from the very much smaller mouse-weasel therefore.

Spread This ermine lives in Europe, wide parts of Asia and North America.

Shape The animals of unterseits are in the summer knows and oberseits brown. The tail-top is black. In the winter, the animals experience an Umfärbung into a total white, that its fur in this color-stage very leaves become desire. Merely the tail-top retains itself its original coloring. The Umfärbung always begins at the head in the form that the brown hair is canceled and simultaneously the somewhat thicker, whitens burgeons. The cause of the color-change, that stays away in warmer, southern climates, is not completely clarified, however seems to be crucial factors both the temperature and the day-length. An endogenous control (inner clock) is not to be also excluded.

Way of life, nutrition Is ermines meets - and night-active. They play an important role as regulators in the cycle of the nature like all carnivores. In its diverse habitats, that are enough from the parkland over fields, forests and Röhricht until to steppes, dunes and even human settlements as well as as far as to a height of 3400 m, they hunt rodents mainly, who often are essentially bigger than it, themselves. However, they spurn also birds, whose eggs, fish and amphibians not and often takes before-dearly also with insects. Nevertheless they - beside other marten-good carnivores - must be regarded as Hauptvertilger of rats and mice and therefore are our particular protection anbefohlen.

Precinct-behavior Is weasels very much place-scatters. they live in a main-hiding place and still occupy several additional-hiding places in a big, unclearly delimited precinct simultaneously. Within this Revieres, they frequently celebrate solid changes, that are marked at certain, prominent places with the secretion of the anal-gland. Likewise, the scent-brands of the precinct-demarcation serve. The territories of the females (Fähen) usually are the more active males (male dogs) smaller than this. Areas can these from up to 40 ah occupies. With food-lack, the animals migrate into other areas. Ermines are Kulturfolger, that probably not only tolerate already in prehistoric period in the human settlements, in contrast to many other martens but as welcome mice and Rattenvertilger were spared fully.

Reproduction Outside the combination-time, that is not keenly restricted within the warm yearly-half, the ermines live strictly for itself, and also the combination restricts itself to few hours. If two animals meet outside this "Friedzeit", they fight themselves fury-screams on the most vehement under loud Keckern and gel-loins. If however, the partners are ready for the combination, they court themselves with chirping and trilling tones. How virtually the fertilized egg does a germ-silence with all martens and takes hold into the uterus only few weeks before the birth. Between Marches and Mays was born 3-9 kids. The boys are the first 5-6 life-weeks blindly and remain exclusively on the birth-camp in an Erdhöhle, that was padded amply with plant-material and possesses only one access. Still before the boys open the eyes, the mother brings them meat-food, which the puppies eat eagerly beside the mother's milk. As long as the life of the boys happens exclusively in the construction, the mother licks up the excrement and urine of the children. If approximately itself 5.-6. Week around the eyes opens, the activity-area of the pure mother-family transfers outdoors more and more. The boys follow the Fähe, hunt and play with her until the family-association dissolves in the autumn, and everyone its einzelgängerisches existence begins.

Fight-behavior In contrast to most carnivores, the weasels behave an enemy and also opposite the human being extremely belligerent. they don't retreat or don't look for its salvation in the escape but straightens up on its hind legs and suddenly changes to the attack. They make use on that occasion active of its effective denture. This denture turns also each loot into the fast killing undoing. The marten-typical killing-bite, that positions at necks and rear-head, is fast effectively, absolutely deadly and innate. Even quite young weasels master it, even if not yet as certainly as the adults. If the weasel killed a loot through a such bite, it doesn't consume these at place and place but licks the welling up blood at most and tows its victim into a shelter. Afterwards, it immediately returns at the place of the loot-acquisition and looks for further victims. If it becomes fündig, it kills also these, in fact so long, until no loot-animal is to be perceived more in the surroundings. Only then, ermine finally goes this into its construction for itself in order to broach the loot. This happens like with most carnivores with the Reißzähnen.

Benefits and damage The particular loot-behavior of the ermine causes its severe usefulness in the area of the Nagerschädlingsbekämpfung; it however also can sometimes come too much big harming if an ermine forces its way into a not marten-sure chicken coop namely. Here the small carnivore doesn't rest sooner until the last chicken was killed. Often, the marten then goes exhausted by the many fights to sleep beside its dead loot and then turns for his part into the angry hen-holder's victim. However, these "gaffes" of the ermine cannot curtail its big benefit of the human being but rather should lead to build marten-sure stalls.