User:JJbear8/American ermine

Diet

 * Ermines are Nocturnal carnivorous mammals. Ermines are somewhat in-between large predators and small prey. They eat small mammals, especially voles, also shrews, shrew-moles, immature rabbits, chipmunks, deer mice, jumping mice, and house mice by biting at base of skull. Small birds, frogs, small fish, and earthworms are other types of prey for Ermines.

Habitat

 * Ermines live and find cover from predators in hallow spaces from logs, burrows and man made structures. Ermines sometimes den within their prey's nest and use their skin and fur as a lining for their den.

Breeding

 * Ermines breed in dense parts of the forest. The season for breeding is late springtime to the summer from July to August. The males mature in a year while the females only take three to four weeks to mature and carry a liter for 255 days.

Predators

 * Some of the larger wild predators of ermines are minks, martens, fishers, bobcats, coyotes, and large owls and hawks. Occasionally a domesticated cat or dog may kill an ermine. They're small agile bodies help them evade these predators while competing with their predators for food in more barren months.