Choose your FREE gifts here Spend £50 get 1 free gift | Spend £85 get 2 free gifts

Shipping - UK delivery Free P&P over £75 Last posting date for Xmas: 20 December

Enjoy a trip to Robert's gallery in Thixendale | New exhibition Visiting info - Opening times - Directions

The mating habits of stoats

The mating habits of stoats

The way in which stoats get together to mate is brutal. Males will literally rape kits inside the nest. My studies are based on five years of watching a family of stoats in my garden.


Male stoats will mate with kits

Shortly after a female has given birth she becomes receptive to mating. Males are also known to mate female kits in the nest, even when these youngsters are still blind and helpless.
Delayed implantation

This extraordinary behaviour may seem unpalatable to us, but female stoats are able to delay implantation of their eggs which means the kits leave the nest ready to give birth the following year.

The adult female also delays implantation, meaning that a male stoat that mates with both mother and kits ensures that his line continues well into the next breeding season.
Giveaway signs that females are about to give birth

Related Posts

Long-tailed tit | Limited edition print | Shop nowLong-tailed tits...
Photographing a black grouse lekOne of the most incredible wildlife...
Now is the time to put up a nest box...
It's Valentine’s Day soon. Perhaps you’ll buy a card, choose...

Leave a comment

Please note: comments must be approved before they are published.