Description: The mink is about as long as an average house cat, but is much more streamlined in appearance. Total length for males 20 to 26 inches. Tail 7 to 9 inches. Weight up to 2¼ pounds. Females will average almost one-third smaller. Color is dark brown over most of the body, shading to lighter brown on the sides and darkening along the tail to a black tip. There are usually a few irregular white spots on chest and belly. The body is long, and round, tapering into the long, round neck. The head is small with rather a triangular face, small ears, and dark, beady eyes. The legs are short and, as would be expected on an aquatic animal, the feet are webbed, but in this case only the bases of the toes are joined by the webs. The underfur is thick and fine, the guard hairs coarse and conspicuously shiny. Mink will bear as many as 10 young, but the average is around 5. Dens usually are in a burrow, which may or may not have an underwater entrance. The presence of mink in any given area is usually quite easily determined by scouting sand bars and mud flats along the water’s edge. The tracks are quite distinctive, especially in softer mud, because here the animal spreads its toes to keep from sinking, and in places the outlines of the partially webbed toes become clearly apparent. In most cases if tracks are at all discernible, marks of the claws are conspicuous. The occurrence of mink away from water can not be considered normal, because this creature ranks second only to the otter, among southwestern carnivores, in its preference for an aquatic life. Exceptions do occur, however; mink have been encountered crossing mountain ranges where they might be many miles from the closest watercourse. It is thought that these infrequent cases may be migrations from unfavorable areas, or that such a trip may be undertaken in search of a mate. Much of the mink’s dependence on water stems from its diet. Some of its preferred foods are fish, crayfish, and frogs, none of which are more adept in the water than the mink. Other food items, taken whenever circumstances permit, are birds and eggs and rodents. It is interesting to note that the muskrat is no match for the agile mink, and that one of these fierce carnivores moving into an area has resulted in the extermination of a whole colony of muskrats. Cottontails, too, are unable to cope with the tactics of the mink, although their reproductive proclivities usually keep their numbers well ahead of such inroads. Even with this wide variety of prey and its expertness at hunting, the mink is so voracious that in some areas it has been estimated 100 acres are only enough to support one adult. The continual hunt for food may be the motivation for another interesting habit of the mink which is seldom found among other carnivores.