Mink
From WikiFur, the furry encyclopedia.
[edit] The Mink In Nature
The mink is a semiaquatic member of the weasel family, like the related otter, with partially webbed feet and a soft, thick coat, usually dark brown with a white patch on the lower lip and throat.
The mink is historically one of the best-known and most prized of fur-bearing mammals in the fur trade, and like foxes, has been bred in captivity for that express purpose. Captive ("ranch") mink are a startling range of colors, from near-black through grey and fawn to white, and even piebald.
[edit] External links
- Mink article at Wikipedia
- Mammalian Species: Mustela vison. Information and citations. (PDF format)
- Fur Farming Special Feature: True Colors
[edit] Mink characters
Minks were very few and far between in art and literature until the advent of a character from Warner Bros. and Steven Spielberg's animated cartoon Animaniacs, Minerva Mink. Her appearance was widely applauded in the furry fandom, and it seems her character design was specifically geared toward older viewers. Her appearance matches the kind of attractive full-figured ideal female popular in so much furry art.
Other notable mink characters include:
- Vinson (personal avatar of Rod O'Riley)
- Coralee Perrier (the mink character in Animalympics)
- Karno's The Mink
- Margaret Mynque
- Ffiona from Supermegatopia MUCK
Feral American mink (M. vison) introduced into European fur farms and subsequently escaping into the wild are considered a harmful pest. This has led to them featuring as villains in British talking animal stories:
- Kine by A. R. Lloyd (1982), ISBN 0600204677
- Mink! by Peter Chippindale (1995), ISBN 0671854208
Mink also feature in naturalistic animal stories without dialogue (in the same genre as the well-known Tarka the Otter), including:
- Break for Freedom by Ewan Clarkson (1967. Reprinted 1971, 1976, 1978, 1984.)
- Greyhood: The Year of the Mink by Olly McGilloway (1988), ISBN 0856404012
