European mink

European mink.

European mink is a valuable fur-bearing animal of the order of carnivorous canine family . Of all the vertebrates of the Urals European mink is in the most threatened position and therefore included in the Red book of all the Ural regions.

Description:

Shiny fur.
The body is very elongated, slightly flattened from above.
The legs are short.
The muzzle is blunt, ears small, flattened head on top.
Color:dark brown,
white lips with chin, on the chest and at the bottom of the neck there are white spots.
The tail is almost black.

Inhabitancy.

Settles along the banks of streams, rivers and lakes.
Satisfied shelter under the banks of rivers, roots or piles of fallen trees. Sometimes she digs holes or expands the abandoned burrows of muskrats and water rats (usually the entrance hole is under water).

Food:

the Main food are small fish, frogs, water rats and other rodents, crayfish, shellfish,frog,water-rat,cancer,mollusca.

Enemies: the most dangerous enemies are theAmerican mink and PEOPLE. Precisely fur are the cause of the extermination of the mink man.

The wide spread of the American mink could lead to the extinction of other mustelids.

I believe that the only way to save this species from extinction is to create cell populations, breeding in nurseries and farms, combined with a detailed study of the biology of the species and identify the causes of its disappearance.

The EEP programme "European mink" from the 1992 — conservation of the genome. In captivity contains about 250 individuals. Coordinators — Tallinn zoo and Lutreola Foundation (Estonia).
The program of conservation of the genome of Spain since 2004.
Trial replenishment in Alava (Spain) since 2008.
Special program to control the American mink around and inside the area (Spain).
Habitat restoration in Navarre (Spain).
The state programme of France for the conservation of the genome and reintroduction in 2010 of six years.
Genome conservation program in osnabrück (Germany).
Reintroduction program in the Saarland and in Lower Saxony (Germany).
Regular monitoring in the Danube Delta (Romania) since 2001.
The stabilization of the population on the island of Hiiumaa (Estonia) in 2000.

The task of preserving the species itself is self-sufficient – it should not be our fault that what was created by nature.