Species group · Mammals
Minks
WAnimals has 2 species of mink, all in the family Mustelidae.
- 2 species
- 1 family
- 17 countries
- 44 parks
- Weight
- 400 g – 1.6 kg
- Length
- 30 cm – 45 cm
- Lifespan
- 6 – 10 years
Ranges calculated from the entries that record the figure, not from all 2.
All 2 species of minks on WAnimals
Each one has its own full entry. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.
Conservation status
1 especies in this group están en alguna categoría de riesgo real según la UICN.
See the global conservation statusWhere they live
Recorded in 17 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:
Where to see them
Did you know…
Critically endangered; in Spain it holds on mainly along the middle Ebro, displaced by the American mink.
From European Mink
It is told apart from the American mink by the white patch on its upper lip: the American mink has one only on the lower lip, and that detail is the key to identification in the field.
From European Mink
Its decline has a direct culprit: the American mink escaped from fur farms, which is larger, more aggressive and passes on diseases to it, and which displaces it from riverbanks wherever the two meet.
From European Mink
It is one of the most problematic invasive species in Europe, and the cause lies in the fur industry: every escape or release from a farm seeds a new wild population.
From American Mink
Wherever it arrives, colonies of waterbirds that breed on the ground or on islets collapse, because they never evolved defences against a predator that swims and climbs equally well.
From American Mink