Page 107 - Atlas Of The World's Strangest Animals

AMERICAN MINK 107

Comparisons

Long-tailed weasels (Mustela frenata) may be only 26.6cm (10.5in) and swimmers. Prey includes a range of small mammals, which they kill
long, but they’re every bit as predatory as American mink.They’re with a bite to the base of the skull –a common method of dispatch
quick, agile and alert animals and, like their relatives, are good climbers amongst the Mustelidae family.

Long-tailed weasel American mink

waterside residents, like muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus).They’re considered difficult to classify.Thanks to advances in gene
just as likely to be found in caves around rocky coastlines, testing, this group is now being tidied up, but at present it
too, where they take advantage of food left by successive still includes mink, weasels, otters and ferrets.
tides.They’ve even found their way into the suburbs, Typically, mustelids have stocky bodies with short legs,
where any intelligent animal can always survive. short round ears and thick fur.Apart from sea otters, all
members of this family produce a strong odour that allows
Clever carnivores solitary souls, like the mink, to communicate with others
American mink are members of the Mustelidae family.This by leaving scent messages.These appealing animals also
large and diverse scientific group dates back 40 million have one other characteristic in common: they’re
years, and it includes many animals that, traditionally, were considered to be highly intelligent.This is partly because of
their playful personalities. It’s impossible to say exactly why
some animals play and others don’t, but play has long been
American mink habitats associated with intelligence because it seems to have little
to do with survival or instinct. Humans play simply because
they enjoy it and it’s easy to imagine that an intelligent
animal gets the same rewards from play as we do.
In the wild, mustelids are also naturally inquisitive. Some
species, like otters, have demonstrated problem-solving and
tool-using behaviour, which is usually associated with
primates.This curiosity has also enabled them to perform
well in tests. In fact, in one study, mink were tested to
compare their intelligence with that of ferrets, skunks and
cats. Experiments were designed to test the ability of each
animal to remember specific shapes – and the mink
consistently came top of the class. Strangely, mink even
performed better than some primate groups in certain
tests.They were found to be especially good at ‘task
learning’ and were able to repeat an activity after only
one attempt.

(c) 2011 Marshall Cavendish. All Rights Reserved.