Minks On Of State's Most Interesting Predators

A black mink that has become a conversation piece in the Weedville area was captured by local photographer Peggy Coppolo. You've seen Peggy's outdoor photos in previous editions of the Endeavor. This furbearer has had an easy time plucking fish from ponds in the area while unwittingly entertaining the locals. Learn more about minks in the accompanying story.

Most people's closest exposure to minks comes from the cast-off stolls found in the attic or rummage sale.

Minks are coveted for their silky, smooth coats and remain a favorite quarry of trappers in Pennsylvania. A good-sized mink pelt will sell for about $40.

According to the Pa. Game Commission, adult males average two feet in length, including an eight-inch tail. They weigh a little under two pounds. Females are a little smaller.

Minks have excellent hearing and sight, and a good sense of smell. On land, they travel at a slow, arch-backed walk or a bounding lope, which they can keep up for miles. They swim and dive with ease; a webbing of stiff hairs between the toes of their hind feet helps propel them through water. Minks are most active at night and early morning.

Despite their pet-like appearance, minks are agile and fierce fighters, killing prey with a hard bite to the back of the skull. Prey includes muskrats, mice, rabbits, fish, frogs, crayfish, insects, snakes, waterfowl and other birds, eggs and domestic poultry. Generally, a mink is an opportunist, feeding on whatever is most easily caught or found. Thus, it might avoid fighting to kill a healthy adult muskrat if, say, crayfish were abundant and easily captured. That could explain the contented nature of the critter that has attracted attention in Weedville.

That mink might actually be hoarding his catch in squirrellike fashion. As colder weather approaches, a mink will cache carcasses and revisit them to feed.

Minks are basically solitary, except during mating season. Females give birth in early May.

Don't be surprised if the Weedville attention-grabber disappears soon. Wary of humans and other predators - foxes, bobcats and owls -- a mink will relocate with a range of about three square miles. Many minks have several dens along their hunting route.