Ermine (disambiguation)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ermine has several meanings:-

• An alternative name for the stoat (outside Britain also called the short-tailed weasel) (Mustela erminea), when it goes white (except the end of its tail) in the winter.
• The white fur of this animal, which is historically worn by and associated with royalty and nobility, and is nowadays used for the bordering of judges' robes in France and the UK and the winter Papal mozzetta of the Pope. The valuable ermine fur has the black tail-end, which is kept when the garment is made; the skin of an albino stoat is not the same.
• Ermine is a fur used in heraldry
• Ermine marks are dark patches of color on the white limb of a horse, just above the level of the hoof.