Gornostay is a tundra animal. Habits and methods of food production

Gornostai for many centuries was considered a very valuable animal, fur, caps, collars and fur coats were made from noble persons. It belongs to the family of cunies, in appearance it resembles affection, but slightly larger than it. Depending on sex and geography, ermine sizes vary from 90 to 350 g, it should be borne in mind that males usually weigh twice as large as females. The length of the body is from 17 to 33 cm, and the tail - 12-13 cm. One of the smallest, but at the same time very bloodthirsty predators is ermine. The animal has 34 extremely sharp teeth.

Description ermine

The animal is very similar in appearance to caress, but larger than it. The body is elongated, thin and very flexible, the paws are short, there is a swimming membrane between the fingers, but it is weakly developed. The tail is very long, about 1/3 of the trunk, or even longer, thin, the hairline is not thick, at the end there is a short brush. Fur is especially beautiful in the winter, then it fits snugly, thick, silky. To learn in nature an ermine animal, a photo will not be needed, since the animal has a characteristic appearance. He has only two colors: in the summer he can boast a chocolate-brown top and a yellowish or white bottom, but in winter, for a better camouflage, the predator changes into a snow-white fur coat, although the tip of the tail is always black.

Area of distribution of the ermine

The habitat of this small predator is quite common. The mountainous can be seen practically throughout the European territory, in the northern part of Asia, in New Zealand, and in North America. In Eurasia, the area of distribution from the north is bounded by the coast of the Arctic Ocean, and from the south by the zone of subtropics. In this case, animals do not care where they live. They feel great both on the plains and in the mountains. For example, ermines often climb to a height of 3-4 km, so they are found in the Himalayas and the Pamirs.

Habitat of the animal

Considering the vast territory where ermine is found, it can be concluded that the predator is not very fastidious to the habitat. This is a typical animal of the taiga and tundra, despite the fact that Siberia is one of the coldest places on Earth, the representatives of the cunts rarely hide in impassable flatter thickets, preferring to stay in open spaces. Traces of an ermine can often be seen in floodplains of small rivers, in lacustrine depressions. The animals in the mountainous areas of Siberia reach the zone of the loaches, where they live together with pikas among the stony placers. Gornostayev can not be called shy animals, so they often settle near settlements to be able to steal eggs.

Like many other tundra animals, the ermine leads a sedentary life. If there is enough food in the occupied territory, the animal is unlikely to leave it, especially in the cold season. If the predator settled in the floodplain, then his personal possessions usually stretch along the coast, they can occupy about 10-30 hectares. But on the terraces of ermine dominate in the territories up to 100 hectares. With a shortage of feed, animals do not remain permanently in one locality, preferring to lead a vagabond way of life.

In winter, the ermines mostly live near the villages, but with the onset of flooding they leave for the neighboring forests. They swim very well, so they are able to cover huge distances. The hills usually live in burrows of rodents eaten by them, in old hollow stumps, in a heap of straw or hay, between crevices of rocks, in a pile of stones, in abandoned buildings.

Basic diet of the ermine

As for food, ermine is an unpretentious animal, the diet is quite diverse and depends on the habitat. They are mostly small rodents, such as mice and voles. Unlike caresses, ermine hunts on large animals that exceed it in weight. For example, a predator is able to kill a pika, a water voles, small muskrats, black grouses, rabbits. Despite the small size, hamsters and ordinary gray rats are often out of the teeth of ermine due to their natural aggressiveness.

In summer small predators can eat insects and amphibians, but in winter the basis of the diet is fish. In the Far East, in small rivers near the ice, many young fish die, which becomes the prey of quick and clever ermines.

Features of reproduction

The timing of pregnancy in these animals is not established and can vary depending on the time of pairing. The gon starts in March and ends in September, the pregnancy lasts 224-393 days. In the litter, there are usually 6 cubs, but sometimes there are three times as many offspring. The female is a very caring mother, at first she does not leave her children for a second, if someone approaches the nest, she pierces shrilly.

Like all animals from the family of cunies, only at the age of a month opens the eyes of an ermine. The animal quickly develops, already in a month and a half baby can give a voice at the approaching threat, besides it is characterized by excessive aggressiveness and mobility. At the age of two months, the young ermine go out of the nest, play with each other for a long time, make the first attempts to independently procure food. Already at the age of four months the animals leave the female and seek a place under the sun. At large, predators live no more than 4 years. In captivity up to 7 years old ermine can live. The animal is actively caught by people because of the beautiful fur, so in most cases the animal dies young.

Ratio of ermine to man

The habits of an ermine are sometimes impossible to explain logically, because they are not very careful and fearful, they often climb into a trap. Animals are not at all afraid of man, when he appears, they make certain "tweeting" sounds and run to some elevation to better view the object of interest. If a stranger does not do anything and does not show aggression, then the ermine quickly loses interest in it and continues to do his own business. In captivity, the relationship between predator and man develops quite differently. Gornostay for a short time is wild, tame it is almost impossible.