Sea ore
| Sea ore | ||||||||||||
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Fig. From the scientific journal Canadian Field-Naturalist |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Neovison macrodon | ||||||||||||
| ( Prentiss , 1903) |
The sea ore or sea mink ( Neovison macrodon , syn .: Mustela macrodon ) is an extinct species of predator from the marten family (Mustelidae). He lived on the North American Atlantic coast and was exterminated by excessive hunting in the 19th century.
The body of the sea ore was similar to the closely related American mink , but it was significantly larger. However, there are no completely preserved specimens, only reports and bone fragments, so that precise information is difficult. The head-torso length is estimated at 66 centimeters, plus a tail that is around 25 centimeters long. The fur was coarser and more reddish than that of the American mink.
The range of the sea ore extended along the Atlantic coast of New England and southeast Canada and reached from Massachusetts to New Brunswick . Its habitat was rocky coastline. Sea ores were probably nocturnal loners who retreated into burrows or crevices during the day. The diet probably consisted mainly of fish and crabs .
Because these animals were larger than the American mink, fur hunting was more effective and more profitable. That was their undoing. Hunters had dogs search for the animals and then dug them up or smoked the burrows. They have been exterminated since the second half of the 19th century; the last specimen is said to have been shot in New Brunswick in 1894. Their range was subsequently occupied by the American mink.
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
Web links
- Neovison macrodon in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2009. Posted by: S. Turvey, K. slipway, 2008. Accessed November 7 in 2009.