The American mink (Neovison vison) is a semiaquatic species of mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe and South America. Because of this, it is classed as Least Concern by the IUCN. Since the extinction of the sea mink, the American mink is the only extant member of the genus Neovison. The American mink is a carnivore which feeds on rodents, fish, crustaceans, frogs, and birds. In its introduced range in Europe, it has been linked to declines in European mink and water vole. It is the most frequently farmed animal for its fur, exceeding in economic importance the silver fox, sable, marten, and skunk.
Read more about American Mink: Indigenous Names, Evolution, Intelligence, Diseases and Parasites, Decline of Wild Mink
Famous quotes containing the words american and/or mink:
“Greece is a sort of American vassal; the Netherlands is the country of American bases that grow like tulip bulbs; Cuba is the main sugar plantation of the American monopolies; Turkey is prepared to kow-tow before any United States pro-consul and Canada is the boring second fiddle in the American symphony.”
—Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (1909–1989)
“We need the tonic of wildness,—to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)