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The Irish Stoat.

It is often referred to as a 'Weasel' in Ireland and is widespread here. It can swim and climb well and run with a quiet bounding gait stopping every so often to stand on its hind legs and sniff the air. It is very curious. Its diet include rabbits, rats, mice, shrews, birds and their eggs, reptiles and fish are also taken. Berries and insects may also be taken when food is scarce. Stoats do not build nests but use any suitable hollow tree trunk, burrow or rock crevice. Like all carnivores, they take great care in rearing the young which they teach to hunt and kill prey. Because of this, the young tend to remain with the parent longer than those of other mammals. They help to restrict the number of pests - rabbits, rats, mice, but apart from man, they have no natural predator. The powerful smell produced by the glands around the anus would possibly deter other animals including dogs. This is particularly noticeable when he is alarmed, its function is uncertain but thought to be a marker of territory. They are attractive, inquisitive animals of scientific importance. It has several dens throughout the area in which it is active. It hunts along walls, hedges and ditches which provide it with cover and may also harbour prey. When hunting, it uses its senses of smell and sight both of which are highly developed for hunting by day and night. The rabbit, its most important element in the diet weighs six times as much as the stoat. They are thought to paralyse their victim with fear while other rabbits are seen to look on. it also eats rats which weigh twice as much.

They are powerful adversaries when cornered. It often indulges in 'surplus killing'. Stoats at play running backwards and forward, bouncing off fence posts and trees and sudden turns and changes of direction makes play an interesting sight to view executed at great speed.

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[The Otter] [Limestone] [Holly] [The Fox] [The Mighty Oak] [Common Polypody] [Treecreeper] [The Irish Stoat]
[The Hornbeam] [Bats]