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Mink

Mink
Mink - Lower Saranac Lake.jpg
American mink
(Neovison vison)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Subfamily: Mustelinae
Genus: Neovison and Mustela
Species

Neovison vison
Neovison macrodon
Mustela lutreola


Neovison vison
Neovison macrodon
Mustela lutreola

Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the American mink and the European mink. The extinct sea mink is related to the American mink, but was much larger. The American mink is larger and more adaptable than the European mink. Due to variations in size, an individual mink usually cannot be determined as European or American with certainty without looking at the skeleton. There is one exception to this rule: all European minks have a large white patch on their upper lip, while only some American minks do. Thus, any mink with no such patch is certainly of the American variety. Taxonomically, both American and European minks used to be placed in the same genus Mustela ("weasels"), but most recently the American mink has been reclassified as belonging to its own genus Neovison.

The American mink's fur has been highly prized for its use in clothing, with hunting giving way to farming; for instance, in Digby County, Nova Scotia, Canada alone, there are around two million mink raised on ranches per year. Its treatment has also been a focus of animal rights and animal welfareactivism. American mink have found their way into the wild in Europe (including Great Britain) and South America, after being released from mink farms by animal rights activists or otherwise escaping from captivity. In the UK, under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal to release mink into the wild. Any live mink caught in traps must be humanely killed.


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Wikipedia

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