Dining and Dwelling
A nocturnal hunter, the mink also likes hunting in cloudy weather when their prey is active. The mink hunts in the water and on land. It's prey includes crayfish, frogs, small fish, and water birds. They watch their prey from land and dive in quickly to catch it before it escapes. The young mink follow their mothers in the hunt in order to learn the skills of hunting by copying her. The habitat of the mink is found around water. They are often seen on rivers, streams, lakes, coasts, and marshes. The male mink will mark his territory of up to three square miles with a scent from his anal glands, the females will also mark a territory, but it is often a lot smaller. Within a territory they will have several dens in hollow trees, under roots, or inside the burrows of other animals.
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Life and Death
The mink's mating season is during February and March. The males and the females will travel great distances in search of mates, and they will mate several times with many different partners. Four or five young are born blind and helpless, and will open their eyes at about four weeks of age. By eight weeks of age, the young are weaned and will stay with the mother until the end of the summer, when they set out to find individual territories.
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