Mink Slide

Like their cousins the otters, mink will slide down snowy inclines on their bellies, as the slide in this photograph illustrates. They are excellent swimmers and can swim underwater to a depth of 18 feet or for a distance of 100 yards.  Look for tracks and slides along streams, in cattail marshes and in swamps, where they forage for crayfish, frogs, fish, small mammals and invertebrates. One of its largest prey is the muskrat.  A male mink (larger and stronger than a female mink) captures one by wrapping its body around the muskrat and then biting its neck. Mink make the most of their meals, recycling what they can – the winter nest of one mink consisted almost entirely of the fur of muskrats.