European mink
| European mink | ||||||||||||
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European mink ( Mustela lutreola ) |
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| Mustela Lutreola | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1761) |
The European mink ( Mustela lutreola ), formerly also swamp otter, is a species of predator from the marten family (Mustelidae). It is one of the most threatened mammal species in Europe . It is not closely related to the American mink and cannot be crossed.
description
European mink reach a head body length of 28 to 43 centimeters, the tail is 12 to 19 centimeters long and their weight is 400 to 740 grams, whereby the males are significantly heavier than the females. The body is elongated, the limbs and tail are relatively short. The fur color varies from reddish brown to dark brown to blackish, the underside is a little lighter. The area of the chin and upper lip is colored white, some animals also have white spots on the throat and chest. The fur is extremely dense and water-repellent, especially in winter.
distribution and habitat
European mink were once native to all of Europe , their range stretched from northern Spain to western Siberia and the Caucasus region. Due to the hunting, the destruction of the habitat and the competition of the American mink , however, they have largely died out, today only relic populations exist, mainly in Eastern Europe .
Minks are bound to the water in their habitat. They inhabit bank thickets and other areas of dense vegetation on rivers and lakes and rarely stay more than 100 meters from the water.
Way of life
European mink are solitary and strictly territorial, they inhabit a territory of around 26 to 32 hectares in size. They are primarily crepuscular or nocturnal, during the day they retreat to burrows that they have dug themselves or have taken over from other animals ( e.g. water voles ), sometimes they also hide in crevices in the rocks or in the roots of trees. They are good at swimming and diving, and they can also go looking for food in the water.
food
European minks have a diverse range of prey. Their preferred food includes water voles and other rodents , but frogs , birds , fish and crabs are also preyed on. In winter they often keep a hole in the ice sheet of the water, so that they can go diving for food.
Reproduction
The mating season is in February or March, after a gestation period of around 35 to 72 days, the female gives birth to the offspring in April or May. The high variance of the gestation period may be due to delayed implantation . The litter size is two to seven, on average four or five young animals. These are weaned at around 10 weeks and are independent at 2.5 to 4 months. Sexual maturity occurs at around one year. Life expectancy is estimated at seven to ten years.
Danger
The European mink is one of the most threatened mammal species in Europe today, for which three factors are responsible:
- For one thing, they were hunted intensely for the mink fur . Even if their fur is considered less valuable than that of the American mink (the European mink was never kept on fur farms), 50,000 animals were caught annually in the Soviet Union in the 1920s, for example.
- On the other hand, they suffer from the destruction of their habitat by clearing forests and straightening rivers; today, power plant construction and water pollution pose further threats.
- A third factor has become acute since the 1950s: American mink, which were kept en masse on fur farms in Europe, broke out as captive refugees or were released. Since the American cousins turned out to be more robust and adaptable, they have displaced the European species in many cases.
The last mink was seen in Germany in 1925; in other parts of Europe it has almost completely disappeared. Small populations have only survived in isolated regions, in Russia , Belarus , the Romanian Danube Delta and in southwest France and northern Spain, and especially on the large islands of Estonia. The total population is estimated at a few thousand animals, the IUCN listed him until 2011 as "high risk" ( endangered ), since 2011 as ( "threatened with extinction" Critically Endangered ).
Systematics
The European mink is within the genus Mustela in the subgenus lutreola counted, which also includes the Siberian Weasel and some Southeast Asian weasel species are counted. These species are thus its closest relatives, with the American mink it is more distantly related.
Conservation programs
As part of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity , which aims to counteract the global extinction of species and initiate measures for the conservation of biodiversity, measures for the conservation of the European mink have also been stepped up. The renaturation of its habitats is one of the most important, but often also the most difficult, nature conservation measures. Thus, in the years 2001 to 2004 for the western population of the European mink in the context of three LIFE -projects the EU (LIFE00 NAT / E / 007331; LIFE00 NAT / E / 007299; LIFE00 NAT / E / 007335), the upper Ebro - Region (Burgos, Soria, Alava, Rioja and Navarra) renatured and the effects of these measures on the abundance of the target species examined. Measures have also been taken to protect this area from the invasive American mink.
For the preservation of threatened species, programs and measures for their reintroduction and resettlement as well as resettlement also play a decisive role, since in many cases they can no longer repopulate suitable habitats independently. In order to preserve the European mink, in view of its precarious situation, it is seen as essential, in addition to securing the natural habitats, to resettle animals in their original distribution areas. The Tallinn Zoo has been successfully breeding European mink under human care as part of the European Conservation Breeding Program ( EEP ) since the 1990s . This resulted in the 'Foundation Lutreola' in 1992, which is reintroducing minks to Estonia with its own breeding facilities and reintroduction programs : 2000 to 2005 on the island of Hiiumaa , Estonia (LIFE project no.LIFE00 NAT / EE / 007081) and since 2009 on the neighboring one Saaremaa Island , Estonia.
The following projects have been or are in Germany:
(1) 2000 to 2009 in the North West German Plain (FFH area Hase Valley), carried out by the University of Osnabrück (Prof. Dr. R. Schröpfer)
(2) since 2006 in the Saarland (FFH area Täler of the ILL, "large nature conservation project ILL", Natura 2000 No. 6508-301), by the association ´EuroNerz eV´ and cooperation partners with accompanying scientific research by Dr. Elisabeth Peters (Osnabrück)
(3) since May 2010 at the Steinhuder Meer nature park by the Hanover region in cooperation with the ecological protection station Steinhuder Meer ÖSSM eV, EuroNerz eV and the wildlife and species protection station Sachsenhagen eV The project at Steinhuder Meer has led to the fact that for the first time a European mink and his offspring in Germany could be photographed in the wild; this appears to be a successful reintroduction.
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
Web links
- EuroNerz e. V. (Association for the Preservation of the European Mink)
- (Report on the mink offspring at Steinhuder Meer)
- Elisabeth Peters, (research project European mink, Mustela lutreola, species protection, reintroduction)
- Species sheet for the European mink of the Foundation for species protection
Individual evidence
- ↑ Biology encyclopedia at www.spektrum.de, accessed on June 13, 2016
- ↑ Mustela lutreola in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015.4. Posted by: Maran, T., Skumatov, D., Palazón, S., Gomez, A., Põdra, M., Saveljev, A., Kranz, A., Libois, R. & Aulagnier, S., 2011. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
- ^ Conservation of european mink (Mustela lutreola) in Castilla y Léon. Retrieved October 21, 2015 .
- ^ Conservation of the European mink (Mustela lutreola) in Álava. Retrieved October 21, 2015 .
- ↑ Foundation lutreola. Retrieved October 21, 2015 .
- ↑ Euronerz eV Accessed on October 21, 2015 .
- ↑ Nerzforschung University of Osnabrück. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 26, 2014 ; accessed on October 21, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Sachsenhagen wildlife and species protection station: reintroduction of the European mink (Mustela lutreola) in the catchment area of the Steinhuder Meer. Retrieved October 21, 2015 .
- ^ Foundation for species protection: The mink returns home - return of a little hunter. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 10, 2016 ; accessed on October 21, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Euronerz: First photos of European mink bred and born in the wild at the Steinhuder Meer. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on June 17, 2015 ; accessed on October 21, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, June 11, 2015: Mink at Steinhuder Meer have young. Retrieved October 21, 2015 .
