23 Facts About American mink

American mink is a semiaquatic species of mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe, Asia and South America.

The American mink is a carnivore that feeds on rodents, fish, crustaceans, frogs, and birds.

Fossil records of the American mink go back as far as the Irvingtonian, though the species is uncommon among Pleistocene animals.

The American mink has been recorded to hybridize with European minks and polecats in captivity, though the hybrid embryos of the American and European minks are usually reabsorbed.

The American mink is similar in build to the European mink, but the tail is longer.

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American mink has a long body, which allows the species to enter the burrows of prey.

The skull is similar to that of the European American mink, but is more massive, narrower, and less elongated, with more strongly developed projections and a wider, shorter cranium.

Domestic American mink, which are bred in fur farms and are substandard genetically, have 19.

The American mink's dens are characterized by a large number of entrances and twisting passages.

American mink is a promiscuous animal that does not form pair bonds.

American mink is a carnivorous animal that feeds on rodents, fish, crustaceans, amphibians, and birds.

The American mink often kills birds, including larger species like seagulls and cormorants, by drowning.

American mink was deliberately introduced for commercial fur production in several provinces of Patagonia in 1930.

However, there are isolated territories in between where the American mink is not found, probably due to biogeographic barriers.

The American mink was introduced in Italy in the 1950s, and currently resides mostly in the northeastern part of the Italian Peninsula.

The first feral American mink populations arose in 1930, establishing territories in southwestern Norway.

In modern times, the American mink occupies all of the Norwegian mainland, but is absent on some islands.

American mink was first imported to Great Britain in 1929, though a series of escapes and releases led to the establishment of a self-sufficient feral population in Devon by the late 1950s, and others by the early 1960s.

In Ireland, the American mink was not farmed until the early 1950s, thus feral populations established themselves there much later.

Transmissible American mink encephalopathy is a prion disease of American mink, similar to BSE in cattle and scrapie in sheep.

One Native American mink method involved using a bait tied to a rope and dragged around an area laden with traps.

Selective breeding has produced a number of different colour shades in American mink peltries, ranging from pure white, through beiges, browns, and greys, to a brown that is almost black.

However, the US Fur Commission claims "American mink are truly domesticated animals", based on the number of years they have been kept on fur farms.