The Stoat
(Easóg) The stoat is a carnivore and feeds mostly on rats, mice, birds and their eggs, fish, insects and berries. They can swim, climb and are excellent hunters. It can kill animals larger than itself and even lift them and drag them away. It has a long, slim body. Its coat is reddish-brown and it has a tuft of black hairs on top of its head. The stoat moults twice a year, in spring and in autumn. Sometimes people call the stoat a weasel, but there are no weasels in Ireland.
Stoats live in open country, especially in places where there are stone walls and undergrowth. The 4 - 7 blind young are born in May-June, usually in a sheltered nest in a stone wall or under a tree stump. Many stoats are killed for their fur. They are found over almost the whole of Europe and far into Asia. The coat of the Irish stoat does not turn white in winter.
By Alan O'Connor and Ian Ellis
