Skiers Share Rare Encounter With Elusive Mammal
A man posted some unique footage to Instagram earlier this week of a rare encounter with a seldom-seen animal.
"Watch closely….This little creature, known as a stoat or ermine, is rarely ever seen in the wild. It changes it’s fur color from winter to summer."
These animals can be found in a variety of habitats such as the snow desert, rocky scree, alpine grassland, crooked wood, and woodland.
If you are wondering why this animal goes by two different names, it is due to the adaptive trait of the changing-coat color, found in both both male and female stoats.
In the summer, the animal's back is cinnamon-colored and the stomach is white. In the winter, the stoat's fur molts to completely white, and the animal is then called “ermine”.
People in the comments of the video expressed their envy at the skier who captured the footage, explaining that these encounters are "unexpected and unique."
One woman wrote, "I’ve snowshoed in the mountains for two decades and never seen anything pop out of the snow like this."
It is always a treat to have an animal encounter while traveling through the woods, especially with one who has adapted to blend in better with the snow, making them extra difficult to spot.
Related: Pennsylvania's Largest Ski Resort Reporting 12+ Inches Of New Snow
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