How Do Mink Work?

fur coat is made of animal skins. In the parlance of our times, a mink is a coat, and astronomically expensive one at that, made of the pelts of a type of weasel, also called a mink, which is captured or raised in captivity for the purpose of providing rich people with cozy outerwear. But what makes mink for such a desirable material for glamorous jackets, and why we've been trapping and wearing minks since at least the eleventh century, is also what helps a mink survive in the wild.

A two species of mink exists on the planet Earth today. The third, the c mink, is now extinct due to a couple of centuries of per secution by fur trappers. Both surviving species have thick, soft water repellent fur, and

as did the extinct mink. Both the American mink and the critically endangered European mink are semi aquatic, meaning they stick close to waterways, streams, rivers, wetlands, lakes, etcetera, where they can find all the foods they like to eat best frogs, birds, clams, eggs, aquatic insects, and small animals like rabbits and mice. They love slinking around rocky river banks in the early morning and evening and during the heat of the day, repairing to their luxurious, multi chambered

burrows lined with grass, fur, and feathers. They're extremely tricky to trap because they're smart and suspicious. But we humans are, if nothing else great devising ingenious ways of killing stuff, so we've managed to put mink in a precarious position. The American mink is doing pretty well in the wild. They can be found in parts of every state in the United States except air Zona, and aren't uncommon throughout

their natural range. In fact, they're also not uncommon in other places in the world, including the traditional range of the European mink, which is native to Europe and Eurasia.

American mink were brought to Europe in the early twentieth century in order to satisfy the European passion for fur garments, and by the nineteen fifties at least four hundred registered mink for farms existed in the UK Loane, all stocked with American mink, the species of choice for the fur industry, since they're larger bodied than the European species and their coats are a bit longer and denser. But it's perhaps

predictably difficult to hold a weasel captive. And the American mink that had spent a few generations on European farms escaped and became naturalized citizens of Europe, and it turns out they were very aggressive towards the locals. A feral farm raised mink and their offspring began killing European mink and their kits before the article. This episode is based on how Stuff Work. Spoke with Dr Innigo Zubero Gortia, a researcher in the Department of Environmental Studies at ICARUS

in Laurino, Spain. He said it is important to consider the feral American mink is not the same as native American mink in North America. A feral American mink is like a new species created by humans after decades of breeding in captivity. They do not behave in the same way as wild American mink in their native range. An example of altered behavior in feral American mink in Europe has to do with territory. Wild male animals of both species are normally very territorial and don't put up with

other males sharing their area. Feral American mink, on the other hand, don't seem to mind sharing space with each other. Zabarro Gortia said. In this way, in rivers where it was once possible to find one European mink male in between three and four females, you can now find as many thirty American mink. The predation pressure in the area is extremely strong. As a result of this ecological debacle, the European mink is one of the most endangered animals

in Europe. The population has plummeted by over fifty in the past decade, and although competition from the American mink certainly isn't helping matters, European mink are also hunted by humans and have long been the victims of human driven habitat loss. Activists and researchers are working against the clock

to save the species. Meanwhile, mink farms flourish worldwide. Mink accounts for eight of the global fur trade, and fur is still a popular material in oaktor as recently as two thirds of major Fall fashion week shows worldwide included for the mink, fur industry in the United States grosses around three hundred million dollars a year. There are farms in twenty three states, but a few European countries outstrip

America's farmed for production. Meanwhile, the mink for business is booming in China, a country with a lot of newly wealthy citizens in the market for luxury items, coupled with very few animal welfare regulations. But anti fur activists take note simply releasing farmed mink into the wild won't do

the many favors. In two animal rights activists released between thirty thousand and forty thousand mink from a fur farm in Minnesota, most of the mink died immediately due to heat or killed each other when recollected in different social groupings. As with many issues, focusing on educating the public and contacting your governmental representatives to help reform laws can help the most. Today's episode is based on the article how Humans have Made a Mess of Mink? On how stuff

Works dot com, written by Jocelyn Shields. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radi in partnership with hows Toworks dot com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts from my Heart Radio visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.