Mink - The Unexpected Endangered Species

When I think of mink, I certainly didn’t think they were endangered…In fact, they are one of the most endangered mammals in the world. The terrible thing is that the 1st thing that comes to my mind is a mink coat. How sad. I don’t even think of them living in the wild…

They are semi-aquatic and are carnivores.

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: MustelidaeGenus: Mustela

There are 4 species of mink: Mustela vison, Mustela vison evergladensis, Mustela lutreola, Mustela macrodon.

Mink are in the same family as otters and polecats.

It’s true, the mink has been highly prized for it’s fur, and this lead the way to large-scale mink farming. This is the precise reason that the animal welfare activists have been vocal and adamant about standing up for the mink.

Preferring a habitat of forest brooks, the American mink is well suited to it’s homeland range. However, the Everglade mink, a subspecies, is very endangered. The Great Lakes mink has had a widespread decline, primarily thought to be due to pollution of PCBs and dioxins.

Mink have an extremely high mortality rate. Mink that survive the 1st yr of life in the wild can live as long as 3 yrs. In contrast, mink in captivity have been known to live between 10-12 yrs.

That’s a huge difference. The other problem is that, in captivity anyway, they will have 4-5 kits per litter and that’s only once/yr. Unfortunately, this number would be dramatically reduced when it comes to breeding in the wild.

What Can You Do To Help?

1. Help stand up for the mink by not purchasing or wearing mink fur coats.

2. Donate to local and worldwide animal welfare groups.

Live exotically!

By Kimberly Edwards

Kimberly Edwards is the founder of ExoticAnimalLover.com - Keeping Up The Fight To Preserve The Planet's Wildlife. Find awesome information about animals from all over the world, exotic animal news, updates on conservation, and anything else "Animal". For all of you who are exotic animal lovers, you know who you are...Check out: http://www.ExoticAnimalLover.com