Mink Trivia | 40 facts about the animal

As coronavirus spreading all over the world, the last few days it has been reported that mink catch the virus from humans and pass it on to each other.

Let’s find out more about mink!

1. Mink are usually dark-colored animals.
2. They are semiaquatic, which means that they bot live on the land and in the water.
3. They are carnivorous mammals, which means they eat other animals.
4. They belong to the genera Neovison and Mustela.
5. They are part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters and ferrets.
6. There are two extant species referred to as “mink”.
7. These are the American mink and the European mink.
8. Mink has no plural. It’s one mink and two mink.
9. The extinct sea mink is related to the American mink.
10. But it was much larger.
11. The American mink is larger and more adaptable than the European mink.
12. Despite that fact due to variations in size, an individual mink usually cannot be determined as European or American with certainty without looking at the skeleton.
13. However, all European mink have a large white patch on their upper lip, whereas only some American mink have this marking.
14. Therefore, any mink without the patch is certainly of the American species.
15. Taxonomically, both American and European mink were placed in the same genus Mustela
16. The American mink though has since been reclassified as belonging to its own genus.
17. Its genus is named Neovison.
18. The American mink’s fur has been highly prized for use in clothing.
19. Hunting has given its way to farming.
20. Their treatment on fur farms has been a focus of animal rights and animal welfare activism.
21. American mink have established populations in Europe (including Great Britain) and South America, after being released from mink farms by animal rights activists, or otherwise escaping from captivity.
22. In the UK, under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal to release mink into the wild.
23. In some countries, any live mink caught in traps must be humanely killed.
24. American mink are believed by some to have contributed to the decline of the less hardy European mink through competition .
25. In fact European mink are more closely related to polecats than to North American mink.
26. Trapping is used to control or eliminate introduced American mink populations.
27. Mink oil is used in some medical products and cosmetics.
28. Also, it is used to treat, preserve and waterproof leather.
29. The male weighs about 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz) and is about 62 cm (24 ¹⁄₂ in) in length.
30. Farm-bred males can reach 3.2 kg (7 lb 1 oz).
31. The female weighs about 600 g (1 lb 5 oz) and reaches a length of about 51 cm (20 in).
32. The sizes above do not include the tail, which can be from 12.8 to 22.8 cm (5 ¹⁄₁₆ to 9 in).
33. A mink’s rich glossy coat in its wild state is brown and looks silky.
34. Farm-bred mink can vary from white to almost black, which is reflected in the British wild mink.
35. Their pelage is deep, rich brown, with or without white spots on the underparts, and consists of a slick, dense underfur overlaid with dark, glossy, almost stiff guard hairs.
36. Mink show the curious phenomenon of delayed implantation.
37. Although the true gestation period is 39 days, the embryo may stop developing for a variable period, so that as long as 76 days may elapse before the litter arrives.
38. Between 45 and 52 days is normal.
39. There is only one litter per year. They typically have between six and 10 kits per litter.
40. In Denmark up to 17 million mink are about to be killed because of the spread of coronavirus.