All you need to know about the invasive species of britain.
For the people who don't know, invasive is an animal that can be found in a country, but isn't native there. For example the Brown Rat was actually only native to Central Asia but were intr...
Sticking to the North American invasive species, this next animal is the American Mink.
These mustelids were first seen breeding in the wild of the UK in 1956, they had spread across the UK by escaping fur farms which were big in the 20s. By 1967 these buggers were all over England, Wales and Scotland. The first occurrence of these spreading across the rest of the isles was when a few escaped from a fur farm in 1961. The fur farm was banned from the UK in 2000.
Facts The American Mink is a semi-aquatic mustelid which occupies both fresh and saltwater habitats. It being a mustelid means it's related to animals such as otters and weasels.
It's scientific name is Neovison vison or Mustela vison.
American Mink have black fur and sometimes a white patch underneath their chin. As you can see in the picture below
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Problems With almost every invasive species, there's a problem that comes with it, and what is that problem you might ask? Well, once mink (mink is the plural) are introduced into a region, they spread naturally and quickly, spreading across the isles takes them to new areas with different types of wildlife. And this is where the problems come in.
Mink are incredibly effective predators, and a small rodent by the name of a water vole is at risk because of these lads, as well as ground nesting birds, of course. What's crazy is that mink are thought to be responsible for 94% of the decline in water vole populations, bastards.
They're also credited with being the reason the moorhen has disappeared from the Hebridean Islands of Lewis and Harris, a set of islands off of the north west of Scotland.
Minks aren't only effecting wildlife, though. Mink have had an impact on activities such as fish farming, crofting, sports angling and game shooting (fair play to them on that last one)
You might be, probably aren't but still, thinking about how can you help stop the spread of American Minks than you can look into the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative, because I'm not telling you all the details.
Population Status An estimated 108,750 across the UK. That is 46,750 in England, 52,250 in Scotland, 9,570 in Scotland and no estimate in Northern Ireland.
As for social needs they're solitary animals.
Diet Bootleg otters are carnivores and like to chomp on animals such as rabbits, water voles, birds, eggs, rats, fish and water fowl.
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Weight and Size Your average adult American Mink can range from around 500 grams to 1.6 kilos, they're larger than their European cousins (as usual) but European Mink are not native to the UK and so they're irrelevant for this part.
The size of these fuckers when they're adults can be from around 46 to 70 centimetres, which is incase you wanted to know 18 to 27.5 inches.
Native Location If you'd want to see these home invaders in their natural habitat, then you'd have to travel to North America, where they're found widespread through both the states and Canada, the exceptions for these are the fat north of Canada and the far south of the USA.
Habitat If you want to go spying out for these, think about checking rivers, wetlands and coastal areas. Just make sure you report it if you see one.
Predators Animals such as badgers, golden eagles and even the odd otter will go up and scran one of these. Overall though, they have very few NATURAL predators.
Have you learned to love or hate American mink? Tell me NOW.
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