How Do Stoats Ensure They Have Enough Food For Winter?

Stoats are one of nature’s true athletes. They have very short guts, very little body fat, and a high metabolism. Their stomachs are very small which means they can’t gorge themselves. As a result, they have to eat at least every 2-3 days and more often when they have young or are on the move to gain the glucose to give them the energy to survive.

Stoats are opportunists and will eat a wide range of prey. Their preference is for fresh food as it provides the quickest energy boost, and prey species that require the least energy or risk of injury when hunting (such as young birds, young rabbits, small lizards, weta and even some aquatic species such as crabs, fish, and eels).

However, over winter they cache (store) food as a form of ‘food insurance’. Caching is an evolved adaptive response that originally favoured the survival of weasels and stoats living on fluctuating populations of voles and lemmings in the Arctic.

In New Zealand, stoats generally have a ready year-round supply of diverse food sources such as birds, insects, and rabbits, but they are known to cache here too. In this way, they kill more than they need, just in case they have a bad few days and can’t catch anything fresh.

Thanks to stoat experts Carolyn King, Andrew Veale, and Elaine Murphy for this information.

Photo: Dr. Patrick Garvey from Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research.