Stoat

Stoat
オコジョ
Character Data
AKA		short-tailed weasel, Ermine
Romaji		Okojo
Debut		Kemono Friends (2015 Game)
Animal Data
Scientific Name		Mustela erminea
Distribution		Eurasia, North America, Greenland, New Zealand
Diet		Carnivore
Avg. Lifespan		4–6 years
Read More		Stoat
Conservation

Stoat​

Season 2​

Manga​

Festival​

Pavilion​

KF3​

Kingdom​

Nexon Game​

Gallery

Stoat is a type of mustelid Friend that appeared in the original Kemono Friends mobile game, and the manga.

Appearance

Stoat's hair is of short-length all around, but comes together at the nape of her neck to continue down her back. Her hair is pure white, with the very center of her bangs being a light brown color as a reference to the real Stoat's nose. She possess ears and a tail that befit her species, her tail also being pure white but is tipped black at the end. She is of slightly above average height in stature and has, dark brown eyes.

Stoat wears a white buttoned up, long-sleeved sweater with a matching white, collared shirt and tie underneath. She wears a very short, white skirt that is overlapped by her sweater. Stoat also wears white sneakers with, white calf-high socks.

Series Appearances

Appearances In Kemono Friends Media

Media		Role

In Real Life

The Stoat is a broad classification for the 37 subspecies that are identified throughout the world, and are endemic to North America, Greenland, Eurasia, and New Zealand. Stoats are carnivorous and prefer to feed on smaller prey such as rodents, fish, birds, eggs, insects, small reptile, amphibians, but it's said their favorite food is rabbit and can possibly kill prey much bigger than themselves. When a Stoat has eaten more than it can after a kill, it will engage in surplus killing where it will store the extra meat for later. Stoats are very good tree climbers and much like squirrels, can climb down trees head first.

A Stoat with their winter coat.

During the summer months of the year the Stoat's fur is a light brownish color with their underside being completely white. While during the winter months grows thicker and turns completely white to help it blend into snowy surroundings as well as retain heat. But the constant in both of their fur transitions are that the tips of their tails always remain black, this is to act as a decoy for predators. Their predators are normally large carnivores such as wolves, foxes, wolverines, and some birds of prey.

Stoats are extremely territorial and are intolerant of any other Stoats in the same area, especially those of the same sex. They normally take their dens from either predators or prey that they've killed and always travel alone except during mating season. They breed once a year with the males copulating with more than one partner, copulation is normally forced and the male doesn't help raise the offspring.

Trivia

• While Stoat is the commonly used name to refer to this species, but when their all white fur grows in during the winter they are referred to as Ermine.

• Stoats love eating rabbit so much they're commonly released to control the rabbit population in some areas.

• Stoats have the longest possible gestation period of mammals being at 11 months.

• Stoats were introduced into New Zealand in the past decade, in which they've become a major threat to the native bird population.

References

Martínková, Natália, et al. “Stoats (Mustela Erminea) Provide Evidence of Natural Overland Colonization of Ireland.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, The Royal Society, 7 June 2007, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2176200/.

Stoat, www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/link-suggestion/wpcd_2008-09_augmented/wp/s/Stoat.htm.