Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Wikipedia article of the day for November 22, 2017

The Wikipedia article of the day for November 22, 2017 is Sea mink.
The sea mink (Neovison macrodon) was a mammal from the eastern coast of North America, in the family of weasels and otters in the order Carnivora. The largest of the minks, it was hunted to extinction by fur traders before 1903, when it was first given a species description. Some biologists classify it as a subspecies of the American mink. Estimates of its size are speculative, based largely on skull fragments recovered from Native American shell middens, and on tooth remains. Some information on its appearance and habits was provided by fur traders and Native Americans. It may have been similar in behavior to the American mink: it probably maintained home ranges, was polygynandrous, and had a similar diet, supplemented by saltwater prey. Sea minks were commonly trapped along the coast of the Bay of Fundy in the Gulf of Maine. Remains have been found along the New England coast, and there were regular reports of unusually large mink furs, probably sea mink, being collected from Nova Scotia.

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