What is the difference between a stoat and a weasel?

Answer 1

The terms stoat and ermine are terms for the long tailed and short tailed weasels in their winter coats.

A stoat is a weasel. I has a black tip on its tail and turns white in the winter keeping the black tipped tail.

Stoats are larger and have black tips on the end of their tails all year round

The Stoat can be easily told from the weasel by the simple fact that its tail is blacked

and it's figure is slightly the bigger. The terms stoat and ermine are terms for the long tailed and short tailed weasels in their winter coats.

Answer 2

Questions that depend on common names are notoriously difficult to answer in a meaningful way. To properly answer this question if we had a two-way communication, I'd ask you to give me the Latin name for the animals in question. That said, let's have a go at it...

Weasels range in size from the Least Weasel with an adult body length as short as 130 mm to other Polecats with 'weasel' in their names with adult body lengths up to 450 mm.

The stoat is a weasel relative that is (arbitrarily) not called a weasel in Europe but, is called a Short-tailed Weasel in North America. Whatever your stance is on the common name, the Latin name is Mustela erminea and it is shorter than the longest weasel, the Long-tailed Weasel (Mustela frenata) which is also called the "Big Stoat".

So, let's get this answered:

• Stoats are weasels, animals named "Stoat" are larger than the smallest weasel. Since the least weasel is never called a stoat, and it is the smallest of the weasels, you can say that all stoats are larger than the least weasel.
• The animal most commonly called a "Stoat" is Mustela erminea. It is smaller than the largest of the weasels but, larger than the smallest weasel.
• The animal commonly called the "Big Stoat" is also known as the "Long-tailed Weasel", Mustela frenata. It is the largest of the weasels.

Answer 3

Stoats are larger and have black tips on the end of their tails all year round

Answer 4

same size.