Tina and Milo, the mascots for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics and Paralympics, are anthropomorphic stoats. Native to the Italian Alps, the habitat of these small mammals is increasingly affected by climate change – however, a group of researchers from the University of Turin have had a funding bid for a project to study and protect the animals turned down by the Milano-Cortina 2026 Foundation.
A white stoat sniffs the wind and frolics with its brown companion amid a blizzard, in animated scenes introducing Tina and Milo, the mascots for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
But this charming spectacle in the Italian Alps is becoming increasingly unrealistic, due to irregular snow cover from year to year – according to biologist Marco Granata.
"Around November, the stoat's brown fur turns white for camouflage," he explained to RFI.
"The problem is that with climate change, snowfall is becoming increasingly rare and irregular. More and more often, the stoat is white in a world that is no longer white, making it an easy target for predators."
According to Granata, the stoat population's winter survival rate is currently estimated at 10 percent.
Moving to higher ground
Granata – a doctoral student at the University of Turin – is testing innovative methods to study small mustelids such as the stoat, ermine, weasel and polecat in the Alps, as part of his Ermlin Project research programme.
At the headquarters of the Maritime Alps Natural Park in Entracque, northwestern Italy, he has set up a camera trap – which automatically films when triggered by movement – to monitor the small animals in their natural habitat.
While artificial snow may be suitable for skiers, this is not the case for stoats – so they are moving to higher altitudes in search of snow cover.
"The problem with moving up is that the stoat won't find enough food," said Granata.
"It eats almost exclusively, and exclusively in winter, rodents." The stoat's prey doesn't benefit from venturing to higher ground, because it has learned to live at lower altitudes.
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Elsewhere in Europe, some stoats remain brown all year round. But Granata believes it unlikely that in Italy, the stoat will stop shedding its coat in winter. Molting is a genetic trait, he explains.
He said that if stoats that do not molt, or only partially molt, are favoured by external factors, then the species could gradually adapt to a higher survival rate.
However, at this stage he says he is unaware of any non-molting species in the Italian Alps, and it is therefore difficult to hypothesise that this development will happen any time soon.
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Lack of data
In 2015, the International Union for Conservation of Nature listed the stoat, once prized for its fur, as a species of "low concern".
Granata contests this classification, which he says is based primarily on a lack of data.
"According to our models, since the stoat is expected to lose nearly 40 percent of its suitable habitat by 2100, it should be classified as a vulnerable species."
Researchers from the University of Turin asked the Milano-Cortina 2026 Foundation, which funds projects tied to the Games, for funding to study and protect this elusive animal – but their bid was unsuccessful.
It seems that while Milo and Tina take centre stage at the Games, their real-life counterparts will not be receiving the same attention for now.
This article was adapted from the original version in French by Pauline Gleize.
