Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Elusive American Mink
By: Tom Berg
The American mink is a small mammal that most people never see. They are semi-aquatic creatures, meaning they spend a lot of their time in and around the water. Mink are also mostly nocturnal animals, which also helps explain why most people never see one. After all, how many people walk around the shores of lakes, creeks and swamps late at night?
Mink are part of the weasel family, and they have a long, slender body shape like a weasel. Their beautiful fur is typically dark brown and very dense. Mink fur has been used to make fashionable coats and other garments for hundreds of years. Mink can be found throughout most of the United States and Canada, although they are absent from the USA’s desert southwest.
The American mink is a great swimmer, and although it can dive down to more than 15 feet, it usually stays in shallow water where it searches for frogs and crayfish. Mink are carnivorous predators, and they often enter muskrat dens and attack muskrats which are much larger than themselves. Muskrats are one of their favorite foods. They also kill and eat mice, rabbits and birds like ducks. They are fast enough to catch fish underwater and they are happy to eat them, as well.
Mink have good eyesight and a good sense of smell. They also have an excellent sense of hearing. They can even hear the ultrasonic squeaking of mice, voles and other rodents that they often hunt in the grass. This helps them track down and catch their prey, even under the cover of darkness.
Believe it or not, skunks are also a part of the weasel family, and everyone knows how bad a skunk can smell. Well, mink can stink, too – just maybe not quite as bad as a skunk. Mink mark their territory with musky secretions from glands near their tail. Male mink do not like other mink invading their territory, especially other males!
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