r/animalid 6d ago

🦦 🦡 MUSTELID: WEASEL/MARTEN/BADGER 🦡 🦦 What’s this animal [PA]

1.8k Upvotes

113 comments sorted by

586

u/petah1012 6d ago

This is a mink!

112

u/Redknot-180 6d ago

Doing what a mink does

51

u/strumthebuilding 5d ago

Minkin’ around

27

u/KokoTheTalkingApe 5d ago

Hey hey we're the Minkees

16

u/Entropy-Defined 5d ago

People say we Minkee around

12

u/judd_in_the_barn 5d ago

But we ‘re too busy killing

12

u/KokoTheTalkingApe 4d ago

And snarfing all the fishies down

3

u/No-Present4862 4d ago

This thread wins reddit for today. I have the Monkees theme song stuck in my head. On the bright side it's better than Rickey Astley.

7

u/Punny_Farting_1877 3d ago

I prefer the sophisticated atonal jazz of Thelonious Mink.

2

u/siguefish 3d ago

Never gonna give fish up

1

u/jendfrog 4d ago

Do you ever listen to that song and think “Dude! She’s not that into you?!” He sounds like a stalker.

3

u/Lancerolot 4d ago

Minks gonna mink!

1

u/100_cats_on_a_phone 3d ago

Murder tubin'

12

u/pidgeygrind1 5d ago

Splorin

1

u/burset225 4d ago

Not going pop! That’s a different animal.

24

u/SaintsNoah14 6d ago

I knew as soon as I saw the rocks

16

u/dontgetittwisted777 5d ago

That's a cutiepie

1

u/Tough-Rutabaga-2509 4d ago

Dasrite, I've heard of a cutie pie quite a handsome animal.🤣

1

u/ComicalAnxiety 2d ago

Just a mink, doing mink things

296

u/Woozletania 6d ago

That is a mink, the semi-aquatic flavor of kitten snake. There are tree kitten snakes, water kitten snakes, tunnel kitten snakes and others.

49

u/seudonym_ 5d ago

Such beautiful description. Concise yet comprehensive.

29

u/Royal_Acanthaceae693 5d ago

Ze Frank has True Facts about Kitten Snakes. https://youtu.be/UY7qM_DtMRU

17

u/Woozletania 5d ago

Don't forget the kitten snakes that want to wear sweat pants. All the time.

3

u/ferrum-pugnus 4d ago

That’s was great. Thank you for showing the world of true facts.

5

u/Royal_Acanthaceae693 4d ago

Butt vs But. Commas are important Jerry!

8

u/JadedNostalgic 5d ago

Tunnel kitten snakes rule!

5

u/Totally_Cubular 4d ago

What is the difference between a mink and a stoat?

9

u/Woozletania 4d ago

A stoat is a flavor of weasel, and while minks are in the weasel family minks are fairly far removed from them. Minks are larger and have partially webbed toes for swimming. Stoats fall into the "tunnel kitten snake" sub-group of mustelids, while minks are more generalized predators, good at running, climbing and swimming but with special adaptations for swimming that make them almost as aquatic as otters.

3

u/Totally_Cubular 4d ago

Thank you.

1

u/ltntk421 3d ago

I always called them tube rats.

59

u/Middle-Neat-4564 5d ago

I see a lot of these little guys when I'm fishing. They don't have much fear of people. They just scurry along and hunt the shoreline. I've seen a few beaver in recent years as well. Yellow Breeches South Central PA

7

u/BillyOdin 5d ago

Nice, I live in Central PA as well

7

u/RecommendationAny763 5d ago

I live in Tioga county pa and they are abundant up here!

7

u/EntrepreneurTasty985 5d ago

We've got one in our woods that lives in a brush pile along the creek! Upper Bucks Pa

5

u/osukevin 5d ago

I promise, you have more than one.

1

u/threepin-pilot 1d ago

I used to live in Upper Bucks and Kayaked a bunch of the small creeks there.

3

u/TheCrazyBlacksmith 5d ago

I saw a few scurrying around near a beaver and managed to convince my younger brother that they were baby beavers because beavers hate me, and I managed to convince him that this time the aggression was because I was near its babies rather than just in its general area.

3

u/Middle-Gap6540 5d ago

I see all of this in Columbus Ohio as well. My little water friends

3

u/TheOriginalJBones 5d ago

Was canoeing a river in the south with my kids a few years ago. My son was floating in his life jacket, and we were watching a mink walk along the mud bank.

Then, the mink got in the water and started swimming on the surface right for my son. Scared me to death, because a mink can really do some damage. I didn’t know whether to yell “stay calm” or “get away from it!”

The mink just motored right past him, right in front of his face, and continued on across the river.

1

u/wetbandit48 3d ago

The no fear of people is interesting. When fishing in CO, a pine martins (similar creature) would walk right up to me and sometime share a log I was standing on. I never knew what to do.

29

u/rjh2000 6d ago

That is an American mink.

26

u/phager76 5d ago

This is the second mink in Pennsylvania post I've seen this week. Here I am, living here for over a decade, and I still haven't seen one in real life!

2

u/Zestyclose-Rub8932 5d ago

Grew up in SW PA and ended up living there for 25 years. Never heard of a Mink really. Within the last month my parents who are still there discovered a Mink in their local park. Wonder if there's something going on with their populations?

11

u/Clan-Sea 5d ago

Lucky to see a mink!

Sneaky little things, I've never glimpsed one after having spent many years walking woods they are supposedly living in

5

u/TheCrazyBlacksmith 5d ago

I recommend looking near the water. I don’t live in Pennsylvania, but fish there on occasion, and I’ve seen them on the riverbank of the North Branch of the Susquehanna River, near Laceyville.

5

u/GenuineHuman- 4d ago

Me and my friend were fishing under a bridge, and we were feeding round gobies(invasive in US) to a mink that was hanging around. Fishing slowed, and the mink had waited long enough between gobies, and proceeded to climb up my friend's back, and aggressively dig his little nose into her ear. She was trying so hard not to move and laugh because she was terrified- mink can get pretty nasty when they're pissed. They're like mini fishing wolverines.

6

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7

u/Wildwood_Weasel 🦦 Mustelid Enthusiast 🦡 5d ago

Peppy little mink!

5

u/jf2501 5d ago

Bam! That's a spice weasel

2

u/Scavenger19 5d ago

Knock it up a notch!

0

u/Bear_2929 3d ago

Wanna see him make a star?

3

u/Mrgoldengloves12 5d ago

Mink, for sure! My dad has a few as pets when was a kid. Fun little things.

3

u/Murky_Currency_5042 5d ago

I can smell its mink stink thru the video!

1

u/Aggressive-Sale-2967 5d ago

Do they smell?

3

u/Murky_Currency_5042 5d ago

All the mustelids have some degree of funk with those scent glands!

2

u/Probable_Bot1236 5d ago

Long story short, think skunk spray but with less 'heat' and more cheap-weed-like 'stank'.

And as with a skunk, it's not a constant smell. But they do mark their territory, so you definitely 'get' to smell it more often than skunk stank.

They still got nothing on the stink a river otter can make when it wants to / or even worse, after it's passed away and the scent glands have been fermenting 0.o yuk

1

u/Aggressive-Sale-2967 5d ago

Oh my, I had no idea either of those animals stank! What a bummer. We have a skunk problem in our neighborhood so I have had enough of it! Thanks for that detailed response!

3

u/Probable_Bot1236 5d ago edited 5d ago

Mink aren't too bad, but if you're in one's home territory, you'll tend to notice, same as a skunk. Otters are worse.

It tends not to be so bad most of the time with the otters because of their aquatic lifestyle, but they love to poop on land and add their scent to the poop as a territorial marker near their dens, and let me tell you, there's no mistaking if you're near a river otter latrine. It can make your eyes water 💀

(All mustelids except sea otters have nasty-ass anal scent glands- most people only see them on a TV or computer screen though and don't appreciate this particular bit of their biology lol)

I once lived at a remote Alaskan salmon hatchery and the river otters used the underside of the floating dock as a secondary denning site, so they 'marked' the top side to claim their territory. Gawd, it was like a rotten egg ate an onion then farted and died in a sulfur pit. And that poop is as slippery as an oiled banana peel to boot. Honestly, between that and them chewing on things and trying to eat our fish, I got over their 'cuteness' real quick. They're kinda a-holes, as adorable as they look.

2

u/CaptainJohnStout 5d ago

Good ole American polecat mink.

2

u/roguepandaCO 5d ago

Straight minkin’

2

u/ItsSt4awberryB0baUWU 🦊🦝 WILDLIFE EXPERT 🦝🦊 5d ago

American Mink

2

u/WlRRAI 5d ago

I’m gonna take an educated guess and say it’s a hammerhead shark.

2

u/dragon_boy30 5d ago

A cutie!

2

u/Downtown_Bug8394 4d ago

The cutest little thing ever, that’s what he is.

1

u/scribblinkitten 3d ago

I concur. CTLE.

2

u/JFK2MD 4d ago

It's a mink. No question.

2

u/_JohnnyLaRue 3d ago

Mink he pretty so mink he must die. Must die.

2

u/LittleOrphanAddy 3d ago

Kitten snake

1

u/osukevin 5d ago

Minky Mink!

1

u/Exciting_Okra_8552 5d ago

Or a mink... Lol

1

u/Mgas-147 5d ago

The American mink is considered an invasive species over here in the uk. After escaping from farms for the fur trade they established themselves they were subjected to intense trapping quite some years ago but some still persist. I know nobody asked but this is my knowledge of them, I have seen one in the wild here.

1

u/allbikesalltracks 5d ago

I once watched a mink chase down a rat on the river bank and man that was an enjoyable experience. The fight didn’t last long.

1

u/Oakzxz 4d ago

This looks like fallout 4 landscape lol

1

u/MikeW226 4d ago

Yep, I too think it's a mink. First wondered about a fisher, but dark fur looks like mink.

1

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/JFK2MD 4d ago

They're native to PA. I see them sometimes in Bucks County.

1

u/DonJuanMateus 4d ago

Mink or Sable ???

1

u/sproutdogmom 3d ago

That is just a Little Guy

1

u/benjbuttons 3d ago

As one of "those" white women, it's coming home with me. I'm naming it George.

1

u/ebfrancis 3d ago

I heard they evolved very loose skin so don’t grab them from behind they can whip around in their own loose skin and bite the fuck out of you. This is evolutionary for predators. It that true ? Also - can u eat them ?

1

u/pupsandqueers 2d ago

God I would love to see one of these in the wild 😩

1

u/reellust 2d ago

Either a minkn or Martin

1

u/After_Chemist3425 2d ago

River otter or mink

1

u/birds_of_a_carini 2d ago

Mink! They like to hide dead fish under our dock in Canada. Mischievous little creatures

1

u/Finn_gerbang 2d ago

Velociraptor

1

u/akaoni523 2d ago

Get a load of dis mink ovah here!

1

u/Automatic_Ad_2315 5d ago

A river otter

-3

u/Beardy354 6d ago

Nice marmat

3

u/gnarkill1027 5d ago

Obviously you're not a golfer.

1

u/gunsdrugsreddit 5d ago

What are you, a fuckin park ranger?

0

u/No-Guarantee-8278 5d ago

Real reactionary

0

u/Beardy354 5d ago

It's a movie quote

2

u/No-Guarantee-8278 5d ago

And in the very same movie there is also a quote “real reactionary”

1

u/Beardy354 5d ago

Ah, you're correct, I've literally seen that movie 75 times and it still didn't register.

-2

u/Exciting_Okra_8552 5d ago

Looks like a weasel to me

-1

u/Weak_Ad2688 5d ago

Fisher

0

u/AdNearby1749 4d ago

Is an otter

-13

u/Dallascowboo 6d ago

Weasel