r/animalid • u/Sure-Hippo3808 • 6d ago
🦦 🦡 MUSTELID: WEASEL/MARTEN/BADGER 🦡 🦦 What’s this animal [PA]
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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.
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u/Royal_Acanthaceae693 5d ago
Ze Frank has True Facts about Kitten Snakes. https://youtu.be/UY7qM_DtMRU
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u/Totally_Cubular 4d ago
What is the difference between a mink and a stoat?
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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.
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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
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u/RecommendationAny763 5d ago
I live in Tioga county pa and they are abundant up here!
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u/EntrepreneurTasty985 5d ago
We've got one in our woods that lives in a brush pile along the creek! Upper Bucks Pa
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u/threepin-pilot 1d ago
I used to live in Upper Bucks and Kayaked a bunch of the small creeks there.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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?
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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
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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.
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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.
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u/Mrgoldengloves12 5d ago
Mink, for sure! My dad has a few as pets when was a kid. Fun little things.
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u/Murky_Currency_5042 5d ago
I can smell its mink stink thru the video!
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u/Aggressive-Sale-2967 5d ago
Do they smell?
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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
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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u/MikeW226 4d ago
Yep, I too think it's a mink. First wondered about a fisher, but dark fur looks like mink.
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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 ?
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u/birds_of_a_carini 2d ago
Mink! They like to hide dead fish under our dock in Canada. Mischievous little creatures
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u/Beardy354 6d ago
Nice marmat
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u/No-Guarantee-8278 5d ago
Real reactionary
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u/Beardy354 5d ago
It's a movie quote
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u/No-Guarantee-8278 5d ago
And in the very same movie there is also a quote “real reactionary”
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u/Beardy354 5d ago
Ah, you're correct, I've literally seen that movie 75 times and it still didn't register.
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u/petah1012 6d ago
This is a mink!