Don't Do It! Don't Investigate The Wiggly Thing!

It lays curled on top of the snow, silent and motionless except for the end of it's tail. From across the snow alert eyes of a mouse see something small and back moving on the snow's surface. Could it be food? The mouse creeps in closer and closer until WHAM! Sharp canine teeth sink into it's neck snuffing out the mouse's life. Mouse in teeth the critter scurries back to it's den, inside is the fur and feathers of other unsuspecting creatures; ptarmigan, marmots, snowshoe hare, and weasels.

Who is this terrifying predator roaming the woods you wonder. None other than this guy, the ermine.

You were thinking some HUGE predator something like a coyote or fox weren't you. He maybe small but he shouldn't be overlooked or dismissed as some cute little furry creature. Ermines are one fierce predator taking on prey as large as a snowshoe hare or something as small as a mouse.       

These cunning carnivores often are seen hunting in a zig-zag pattern leaping over a foot in each jump, which is mighty impressive for a critter that is only 6-12 inches long. They use their keen sense of smell to locate their prey by investigating every hole, crevice, and cave in the rocks. In the winter if the snow is too deep they will tunnel into the subnivian layer, or under the snow to those non-scientists out there, and move around in tunnels looking for prey.  They will even flick their tail with it's small black tip in order to lure prey in closer, their white body perfectly camouflaged against the stark white snow.

In the spring these crafty little critters change color to be white on their belly and brown on top.  (Science moment: The increasing light levels in the spring trigger a hormonal change which causes their fur to gradually fall out leaving changing them from white to brown. The same thing happens in the fall. As the days shorten the hormonal change is triggered and the fur changes from brown to white.) Their high metabolism means they have to eat every day, so to make sure they always have a meal ready even when they can not catch one. They cache dead things in hole so there is always something to eat.

Look hard the next time your out in the snow and see if there are two small eyes starting back at you.

If you want to see some other cute ermine pictures check out Meg Sommers' web page she just captured some amazing photographs of an ermine in Yellowstone National Park.