In summer clothes

   The last nice surprise of the summer was a charming and gracious little animal. Anton had spotted something running, and I, from the top of the ladder from which I was trying to remove moss from the tiles, saw this little creature. It had white below and brown on top, and was crossing and streaking at the very end on the cusp of the forest. Then it disappeared into the grass.

   Going from there, Anton-E positioned his camera in video mode where we had estimated the creature had disappeared, left a piece of quiche, and then we waited. After 20 minutes, he went back to see and, curious, she had come out .. to say hi. The photo comes from the film so isn’t the sharpest, but nevertheless, it’s ours.

   In the end, we got a good few moments of pure amazement. Place the link below in your address bar up top and watch this lovely stoat :

http://s1268.photobucket.com/albums/jj573/gambiepascaletmoi/Hermine/?action=view&current=Hermine.mp4

Armenius mus, or Armenian rat, is a small animal that doesn’t exceed 32cm in length (plus an 8-12cm tail) and weighs less than 500g. In the summer, it’s bicoloured, brown on top and white below, though brings out the camouflage in winter and is totally white – bar the tip of its tail that remains black. Its pelt is coveted though she is now a protected species. Indeed, nowadays, the magistrates use white-dyed rabbit skin.

   It’s mostly found in mountainous regions, at 1000m in altitude or more, and feeds on small rodents. In fact, just before spotting it, a field mouse had just crossed the yard near us. She was no doubt tracking it. Its hunting ground covers between 10 to 100 hectares depending on the density of prey, and 1 to 10 hermines may live in a 100 hectare parcel of land. It lives for about seven years, so this one must be a descendent of a totally white one we spotted on the grass one spring’s day a good 15 years ago.

18/10/2012 A la maison