WEBVTT - How Do Mink Work?

0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:04.320
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.

0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:10.559
<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam Here. It's possible you've

0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:13.400
<v Speaker 1>heard of a mink, and it's also possible that the

0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:15.760
<v Speaker 1>thing that pops into your head when you hear that

0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:19.639
<v Speaker 1>word is a fur coat. But of course, a natural

0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:23.200
<v Speaker 1>fur coat is made of animal skins. In the parlance

0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:26.720
<v Speaker 1>of our times, a mink is a coat, and astronomically

0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.400
<v Speaker 1>expensive one at that, made of the pelts of a

0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:32.599
<v Speaker 1>type of weasel, also called a mink, which is captured

0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:35.840
<v Speaker 1>or raised in captivity for the purpose of providing rich

0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:41.400
<v Speaker 1>people with cozy outerwear. But what makes mink for such

0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:45.440
<v Speaker 1>a desirable material for glamorous jackets, and why we've been

0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:48.680
<v Speaker 1>trapping and wearing minks since at least the eleventh century,

0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:51.600
<v Speaker 1>is also what helps a mink survive in the wild.

0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:55.320
<v Speaker 1>A two species of mink exists on the planet Earth today.

0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:58.560
<v Speaker 1>The third, the c mink, is now extinct due to

0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.640
<v Speaker 1>a couple of centuries of per secution by fur trappers.

0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:06.440
<v Speaker 1>Both surviving species have thick, soft water repellent fur, and

0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:11.080
<v Speaker 1>as did the extinct mink. Both the American mink and

0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:15.360
<v Speaker 1>the critically endangered European mink are semi aquatic, meaning they

0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:19.679
<v Speaker 1>stick close to waterways, streams, rivers, wetlands, lakes, etcetera, where

0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:21.839
<v Speaker 1>they can find all the foods they like to eat

0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:26.840
<v Speaker 1>best frogs, birds, clams, eggs, aquatic insects, and small animals

0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:30.720
<v Speaker 1>like rabbits and mice. They love slinking around rocky river

0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.520
<v Speaker 1>banks in the early morning and evening and during the

0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:36.800
<v Speaker 1>heat of the day, repairing to their luxurious, multi chambered

0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:41.440
<v Speaker 1>burrows lined with grass, fur, and feathers. They're extremely tricky

0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:45.119
<v Speaker 1>to trap because they're smart and suspicious. But we humans are,

0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:49.120
<v Speaker 1>if nothing else great devising ingenious ways of killing stuff,

0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:51.960
<v Speaker 1>so we've managed to put mink in a precarious position.

0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:56.440
<v Speaker 1>The American mink is doing pretty well in the wild.

0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:58.640
<v Speaker 1>They can be found in parts of every state in

0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:01.919
<v Speaker 1>the United States except air Zona, and aren't uncommon throughout

0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.600
<v Speaker 1>their natural range. In fact, they're also not uncommon in

0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:08.720
<v Speaker 1>other places in the world, including the traditional range of

0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:12.000
<v Speaker 1>the European mink, which is native to Europe and Eurasia.

0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.960
<v Speaker 1>American mink were brought to Europe in the early twentieth

0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:19.760
<v Speaker 1>century in order to satisfy the European passion for fur garments,

0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:23.520
<v Speaker 1>and by the nineteen fifties at least four hundred registered

0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:27.360
<v Speaker 1>mink for farms existed in the UK Loane, all stocked

0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.600
<v Speaker 1>with American mink, the species of choice for the fur industry,

0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.919
<v Speaker 1>since they're larger bodied than the European species and their

0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:38.840
<v Speaker 1>coats are a bit longer and denser. But it's perhaps

0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.639
<v Speaker 1>predictably difficult to hold a weasel captive. And the American

0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:46.000
<v Speaker 1>mink that had spent a few generations on European farms

0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:51.320
<v Speaker 1>escaped and became naturalized citizens of Europe, and it turns

0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:55.000
<v Speaker 1>out they were very aggressive towards the locals. A feral

0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.639
<v Speaker 1>farm raised mink and their offspring began killing European mink

0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:02.560
<v Speaker 1>and their kits before the article. This episode is based

0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.680
<v Speaker 1>on how Stuff Work. Spoke with Dr Innigo Zubero Gortia,

0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:09.400
<v Speaker 1>a researcher in the Department of Environmental Studies at ICARUS

0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:13.440
<v Speaker 1>in Laurino, Spain. He said it is important to consider

0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.560
<v Speaker 1>the feral American mink is not the same as native

0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:20.120
<v Speaker 1>American mink in North America. A feral American mink is

0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.560
<v Speaker 1>like a new species created by humans after decades of

0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:26.680
<v Speaker 1>breeding in captivity. They do not behave in the same

0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:31.480
<v Speaker 1>way as wild American mink in their native range. An

0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.800
<v Speaker 1>example of altered behavior in feral American mink in Europe

0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:38.320
<v Speaker 1>has to do with territory. Wild male animals of both

0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.640
<v Speaker 1>species are normally very territorial and don't put up with

0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:45.240
<v Speaker 1>other males sharing their area. Feral American mink, on the

0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:48.320
<v Speaker 1>other hand, don't seem to mind sharing space with each other.

0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:53.280
<v Speaker 1>Zabarro Gortia said. In this way, in rivers where it

0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.720
<v Speaker 1>was once possible to find one European mink male in

0:03:56.800 --> 0:03:59.600
<v Speaker 1>between three and four females, you can now find as

0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:03.760
<v Speaker 1>many thirty American mink. The predation pressure in the area

0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:09.480
<v Speaker 1>is extremely strong. As a result of this ecological debacle,

0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.640
<v Speaker 1>the European mink is one of the most endangered animals

0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.040
<v Speaker 1>in Europe. The population has plummeted by over fifty in

0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:19.600
<v Speaker 1>the past decade, and although competition from the American mink

0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.440
<v Speaker 1>certainly isn't helping matters, European mink are also hunted by

0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:26.360
<v Speaker 1>humans and have long been the victims of human driven

0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:30.640
<v Speaker 1>habitat loss. Activists and researchers are working against the clock

0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:36.760
<v Speaker 1>to save the species. Meanwhile, mink farms flourish worldwide. Mink

0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:40.039
<v Speaker 1>accounts for eight of the global fur trade, and fur

0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:44.800
<v Speaker 1>is still a popular material in oaktor as recently as

0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:49.880
<v Speaker 1>two thirds of major Fall fashion week shows worldwide included

0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:53.599
<v Speaker 1>for the mink, fur industry in the United States grosses

0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.560
<v Speaker 1>around three hundred million dollars a year. There are farms

0:04:56.560 --> 0:05:00.600
<v Speaker 1>in twenty three states, but a few European countries outstrip

0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:05.240
<v Speaker 1>America's farmed for production. Meanwhile, the mink for business is

0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.240
<v Speaker 1>booming in China, a country with a lot of newly

0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:11.719
<v Speaker 1>wealthy citizens in the market for luxury items, coupled with

0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:17.640
<v Speaker 1>very few animal welfare regulations. But anti fur activists take

0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:21.800
<v Speaker 1>note simply releasing farmed mink into the wild won't do

0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:26.760
<v Speaker 1>the many favors. In two animal rights activists released between

0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:29.400
<v Speaker 1>thirty thousand and forty thousand mink from a fur farm

0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.920
<v Speaker 1>in Minnesota, most of the mink died immediately due to

0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:37.240
<v Speaker 1>heat or killed each other when recollected in different social groupings.

0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:41.400
<v Speaker 1>As with many issues, focusing on educating the public and

0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:45.320
<v Speaker 1>contacting your governmental representatives to help reform laws can help

0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:53.440
<v Speaker 1>the most. Today's episode is based on the article how

0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:55.799
<v Speaker 1>Humans have Made a Mess of Mink? On how stuff

0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:59.040
<v Speaker 1>Works dot com, written by Jocelyn Shields. Brain Stuff is

0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.440
<v Speaker 1>production of I Heart Radi in partnership with hows Toworks

0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.320
<v Speaker 1>dot com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more

0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:07.080
<v Speaker 1>podcasts from my Heart Radio visit the heart Radio app,

0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:09.960
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.