Mink

An American Mink, Mustela vison, in the wild.

A mink is any of several furry, dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes the weasels and the otters. It is naturally found in North America, northern Europe, and most of Russia west of Ural Mountains. Mink fur has been highly prized for its use in clothing, with hunting giving way to large-scale mink farming. It has also been a focus of much animal rights activism.

American Mink lives around three years in the wild and 10-12 in captivity and has 4-6 offspring. It is found in places which suit its habits throughout almost all North America, from Florida to the Arctic. An endangered subspecies, the Everglades Mink (Mustela vison evergladensis), is endemic to the Florida Everglades.

American Mink of other subspecies have found their way into the wild in Europe (including Great Britain) and South America, as escapees from fur farms, and are currently expanding their range on those continents. In parts of Russia, this species was deliberately introduced to provide quarry for fur trappers.

Name

The name mink may have originated in the Swedish maenk applied to the European animal. Captain John Smith's History of Virginia (1626), page 27, refers to the American Mink as "Martins, Powlecats, Weesels and Minkes"; thus, the term had already been incorporated into the English language by that time. Later authors, such as Lawson (1709) and Pennant (1784), often write it “Minx.”Minks are prevalent in Virginia, particularly concentrated in the town of Windsor

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