Author Institution: Ohio Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, The Ohio State University and Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of WildlifeThe status of ermine as regular inhabitants of Ohio has been unclear. Previously, only three records were known from the state. In this study, size 0 leghold traps and 8 x 8 x 25 cm Sherman traps were used to capture five ermine in Ashtabula and Trumbull Counties during summer 1987 and two in Trumbull County in 1988. Ermine are permanent residents in at least Trumbull County

Case, Denis S.

McDonald, Kenneth P.

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BRIEF NOTEThe Status of Ermine (Mustela erminea) in Ohio1KENNETH P. MCDONALD AND DENIS S. CASE, Ohio Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, The Ohio State University, 43210 andOhio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, Columbus, OH 43224ABSTRACT. The status of ermine as regular inhabitants of Ohio has been unclear. Previously, only threerecords were known from the state. In this study, size 0 leghold traps and 8 x 8 x 25 cm Sherman trapswere used to capture five ermine in Ashtabula and Trumbull Counties during summer 1987 and two inTrumbull County in 1988. Ermine are permanent residents in at least Trumbull County.OHIO J. SCI. 90 (1): 46-47, 1990INTRODUCTIONThe ermine, or short-tailed weasel {Mustela erminea),has the most widespread distribution of the members ofthe genus Mustela, but is mainly a boreal, circumpolarspecies (Hall 1981, Svendsen 1982). Ohio is on the edgeof the ermine's range, but its occurrence as a regularinhabitant of the state was considered improbable byGottschang (1981).Prior records are confusing. The species was listed aspart of Ohio's fauna by Kirtland (1838) and Brayton(1882), but neither author listed the more widespreadlong-tailed weasel (M.frenatd). This seems paradoxical inthat long-tailed weasels certainly would have been muchmore common and widespread in Ohio than ermines,especially in the late 1800s. Rutland's 1938 record isfurther puzzling in that he offered the remark that theermine "is occasionally met with, but is mistaken for awhite weasel" [Rutland's emphasis] - presumably, a whiteweasel would have been an ermine. A record claiming tobe based on the first specimen of an ermine from Ohiowas reported by Henninger (1921), but subsequent ex-amination determined the specimen to have been a long-tailed weasel (Hall 1937).Prior to this study, only three records were known: oneeach from Cuyahoga County in 1937 (Bole and Moulthrop1942), Ashtabula County in 1964, and Lake County in 1978(Gottschang 1981). The present study attempted to deter-mine if ermine were more common than the recordsindicated, and if they were present in sufficient numbersto be considered permanent residents.MATERIALS AND METHODSTrapping was conducted in Ashtabula and TrumbullCounties during July and August 1987. Ermine weretrapped with size 0 leghold traps placed under a 60 x 60x 40-cm fiberglass tub, into which a small opening hadbeen cut. A live mouse (Peromyscus) caged in an 8 x 8 x6-cm/cage was placed under the tub as bait, with the trapbetween the opening and the bait. Sherman live traps(8 x 8 x 25 cm) were also used, baited with pine shavingsused as bedding in cages of white mice. Traps were placedin or near brush piles, along the edges of dike roads, in'Manuscript received 10 April 1989 and in revised form 8 September1989 (#BN89-H).woodlots, and in ditches and other travel routes. Mostwere near bodies of water such as marshes, ponds, andslow-flowing rivers. Captured ermines were sacrificed,body measurements were taken, and the specimens weredeposited with the Museum of Zoology at The Ohio StateUniversity.RESULTSA total of 243 trap nights (140 leghold and 103Sherman) during summer 1987 resulted in the capture ofone female and four male ermines. Two males werecaptured 10 days apart in Sherman traps placed at theintersection of two marsh dikes on the Mosquito CreekWildlife Area in Trumbull County. A male and a femalewere captured within 2 km of one another on the GrandRiver Wildlife Area in Trumbull County. The male wascaptured in a leghold trap set in a small woodlot borderedby the Grand River, a gravel road, and a dike. The femalewas captured in a Sherman trap placed in a brush pile atthe edge of a large woodlot. These four were the firstrecords of ermine for Trumbull County.The remaining male was captured at the northern endof Pymatuning State Park in Ashtabula County. It wastaken in a Sherman trap placed on the ground near somefallen trees, in a mixed hemlock-oak-maple woodlot thatcontained small pools of standing water. This was only thesecond record from Ashtabula County.Two additional ermine were accidentally taken inSherman traps set for mice in July and October 1988, inTrumbull County. Both were females; one was found ina barn, and one in an adjacent woodlot on the MosquitoCreek Wildlife Area.Date and county of capture, sex, and body measure-ments of the seven ermine were determined and recorded(Table 1).DISCUSSIONResults of this study show that ermine are morecommon than previously indicated. The absence of rec-ords probably results from a combination of factors,including a lack of effort, a need for specialized trappingtechniques, a failure to distinguish between M. ermineaand M. longicauda, and a relatively low target popula-tion. It is not likely that the recent records are a result ofan increase in the population. Although not analyzed byOHIO JOURNAL OF SCIENCE K. P. MCDONALD AND D. S. CASE 47TABLE 1Date and county of capture, sex, and body measurements ofermine captured in northeastern Ohio, 1987 and 1988.Body Measurements (mm)Total Tail HindDate County Sex Length Length Foot Ear7/26/878/2/878/6/878/16/878/27/877/29/8810/15/88TrumbullTrumbullTrumbullTrumbullAshtabulaTrumbullTrumbullMFMMMFF28323929528026323123374527768675356322932323029271813141918—13species, Division of Wildlife annual fur harvest recordssince the 1951-52 trapping season show a long-termdecline in the state-wide weasel population, and only oneweasel has been reported in the fur harvest from Ashtab-ula, Lake, or Trumbull County since the 1984-85 trappingseason.It is extremely unlikely that the individuals captured inTrumbull County were transient wanderers from Pennsyl-vania, especially the female ermine. Females have beenfound to be relatively site-specific and rarely travel longdistances, and the movement of all but transient malesusually corresponds to the distribution of females (Sandell1986). The longest recorded movement by female erminein a mark/recapture study in New Zealand was 5.6 km(King and McMillan 1982), and Erlinge (1977) found thatfemale ermine were never recaptured more than 1 kmfrom their original capture site.The relative frequency of capture during this study,therefore, argues convincingly that the species is a perma-nent resident of the state. It is certainly a resident ofTrumbull County, and our Ashtabula County record,along with the other relatively recent records from Ashtab-ula and Lake Counties, are indicative of an establishedpopulation in northeastern Ohio. Further trapping needsto be done to determine the full extent of the range forermine in Ohio.Sherman traps baited with soiled pine shavings fromthe cages of laboratory mice proved to be a much moreefficient method for capturing ermine than were legholdtraps. They were also much easier to set, could be quicklyset in large numbers, and were easily concealed. Thesetraps also more closely mimic a mouse tunnel, which mayfurther attract ermine. Therefore, we recommend thatSherman traps, or those of a similar tunnel type, be usedin future collecting efforts.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We thank Dr. Robert Temple and Dr. Theodore A.Bookhout for some helpful suggestions and Kenneth W. Laub for editingthe manuscript. Two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments.Funding for this project came from contributions checked off on the stateincome tax return form to the Nongame and Endangered Wildlife SpecialAccount.LITERATURE CITEDBole, B. P. Jr. and P. N. Moulthrop 1942 The Ohio recent mammalcollection in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Sci. Publs.Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist. 5: 83-181.Brayton, A. M. 1882 Section I. Report on the mammalia of Ohio. In.Report of the geological survey of Ohio. Volume IV. Zoology andBotany. Part I. Zoology. Columbus: Nevins and Meyers, p. 1-185.Erlinge, S. 1977 Spacing strategy in stoat Mustela erminea. Oikos 28:32-42.Gottschang, J. L. 1981 A guide to the mammals of Ohio. Columbus:Ohio State Univ. Press.Hall, E. R. 1937 Mustela cigognanii, the short-tailed weasel, incorrectlyascribed to Ohio. Amer. Mid. Nat. 18: 304.1981 The mammals of North America. New York: John Wiley& Sons.Henninger, W. F. 1921 Two mammals new to Ohio. J. Mammal. 2: 239-King, C. M. and C. D. McMillan 1982 Population structure and dispersalof peak-year cohorts of stoats (Mustela erminea) in two New Zealandforests, with especial reference to control. New ZealandJ. of Ecology5: 59-66.Kirtland, J. P. 1838 Report on the zoology of Ohio. In: Second annualreport on the geological survey of Ohio. Columbus: Samuel Medary,p. 157-200.Sandell, M. 1986 Movement patterns of male stoats Mustela ermineaduring the mating season: differences in relation to social status.Oikos 47: 63-70.Svendsen, G. E. 1982 Weasels. In. J. A. Chapman and G. A. Feldhamer(eds.), Wild mammals of North America. Baltimore: The JohnsHopkins Univ. Press, p. 613-628.

Brief Note: The Status of Ermine (Mustela erminea) in Ohio

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Brief Note: The Status of Ermine (Mustela erminea) in Ohio

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