Species Profile: The American Mink (1009 words)

          An illusive, fearless and Intelligent predator has survived an onslaught of hunting by man for several hundreds of years. Valued for their dark brown fur: The Neovision Vision or American Mink has a stable population from the Arctic Coast of Northern Alaska to the Southern tip of Florida and from the east to west coasts of Canada and U.S.A. The American Mink is a highly adaptive, solitary carnivore that will eat anything it can kill, which gives it the ability to thrive in almost any environment. Since the creation of fur farms outside of The American Mink’s natural habitat, this highly intelligent member of the Mustelidae family has been able to escape captivity and establish invasive populations in Europe, Asia and South America. A true jack of all trades, The American Mink is a survivor.

          As semi aquatic animal, The American Mink has webbed toes that give it speed and maneuverability while hunting in the water. These same webbed toes also help it in the winter, stopping the Mink from sinking by act as snow shoes. When pouncing or running fast: The American Mink’s long body looks like a slinky. Arching its back to coil up, then fully extending in a sprinting fashion. These movements happen very fast and efficiently, making the American Mink explosive and agile.  Smell is not the American Mink’s primary sense, but combined with sensitive whiskers it does just fine sniffing out rodents. The best sense this cute but vicious Mustelidae has is sight does extremely well spotting its prey in the water, while perched on shore. While visually locked onto a fish or a Muskrat in the water: The American Mink will follow its prey from land along the banks, waiting for the perfect moment and pounce. Once in the water it uses its agility to wrestle the pray to shallow water where it can kill and eat it.

          Mating season begins in early spring and is most common during the month of March, depending on the climate it may stretch into April. Usually both males and females mate with multiple partners and a litter can be fertilized by more than one male at a time. When an egg is fertilized, the female American Mink can delay pregnancy as the egg doesn’t attach to the uterus right away. This can last up to a month, but eventually the egg will attach and the pregnancy will last approximately 30 days.The babies are born with hair, in litters up to ten and grow fast, only staying in the safety of the den for one month. The American Mink is has a life expectancy of 3 years and grow to be about two feet long, weighing approximately four pounds.   

          When Europeans first came to North America they discovered a Mink that looked similar to its European cousin and began hunting it for its fur. Although they developed effective trapping methods the American Mink proved to be a weary foe. Hunting of the European Mink has put them on the critically endangered list, while the American Mink continues to thrive.The two Minks look similar, but behave very differently. The European species is closely related to the weasel and ferret while, the aggressive American Mink is in a genus all their own.  What is the difference you ask? On the surface they almost look identical: The American Mink only has white on its bottom jaw, where as the European has white markings on both the top and bottom jaw. The real difference though, lies in The American Mink’s brazen fearlessness and intelligence it uses to stay illusive to humans while effectively hunting a vast array of prey. The American Mink will even kill some animals without eating them like snakes.

          Extremely territorial the American Mink will not tolerate competition and will kill not only for food but also to stay the boss. Anything that is deemed as a threat will be eliminated, this can even include other Minks. Their aggressive nature serves them well, they appear always on edge and ready to attack. Not afraid to take on animals much bigger than themselves, American Minks kill their prey by severing the jugular vein in their victims neck.

          An American Mink’s favourite prey to hunt is a pesky rodent called the Muskrat. Already a very territorial animal, the one thing an American Mink hates the most is Muskrats. In southern habitats The Mink lives out its entire life hunting Muskrats and fish along the shores of swamps lakes and rivers. A Muskrat has the advantage and will win the fight  in deep water, so the American Mink has to outsmart the Muskrat in order to attack it on land or shallow water. The Muskrats burrow on the banks of shore lines and the American Mink will use their sense of smell to find the den, then run in and kill Muskrat. In climates with a winter: The American Mink will move inland to hunt once the river freezes over. Its long body, webbed toes and layered fur means the American Mink can stay atop and nimble in deep snow, while stay warm throughout the dead of winter. During these frigid months where most animals struggle to survive, the American Mink once again thrives, filling its belly with mice and rabbits. In habitats with an Ocean coast the American Mink will enjoy eating crab, clams and fish it catches in the shallow water along the shore.

This cute and playful looking Mustelidae is nothing to play with. In the same family as the Wolverine and Martin. This carnivorous predator is known to take down prey larger than itself and kill other animals over territory disputes. It does well on land and in water, adapting to almost every climate North America has to offer. All of their skill sets combined makes them a Houdini, escaping captivity and now populating the rest of the world as an invasive species. If I was to sum up the essence of the American Mink in one word, it would be survivor!