Mink

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For other uses, see Mink (disambiguation).

Mink

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Mustelidae
Genus:	Neovison and Mustela

Species

Neovison vison
Neovison macrodon
Mustela lutreola

A wild American Mink, Lower Saranac Lake.

There are two living species of mink. The American Mink and the European Mink. The extinct Sea Mink is related to the American Mink, but is much larger. All three species of mink are dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes the weasels and the otters. The American Mink is larger, and more adaptable than the European Mink. It is sometimes possible to distinguish the European and American species based on the fact that the American Mink usually lacks a large white patch on its upper lip, while the European Mink always possesses one. Any mink without such a patch can be identified with certainty as an American Mink, but an individual with such a patch, if encountered in continental Europe, cannot be certainly identified without looking at the skeleton. The American Mink's fur has been highly prized for its use in clothing, with hunting giving way to large-scale mink farming. Its treatment has also been a focus of animal welfare activism.

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. American Mink are believed by some to have contributed to the decline of the less hardy European mink through competition. Trapping is used to control and eliminate any feral American Mink.