The stoat (Mustela erminea), also known as the Eurasian ermine or ermine, is possibly named from the Dutch word stout – meaning bold. A small predator, with a long, low-slung body that makes it particularly well suited to hunting small rodents and rabbits, it has a distinctive long black-tipped tail. (A weasel's brown tail is shorter with no black.) The stoat also arches its back as it runs. It stoat usually makes its den in an old rabbit burrow, but will also use tree roots or hollow logs.
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