Mustela lutreola
– Endangered
Taxonomy
|
Kingdom:
|
ANIMALIA
|
|
Phylum:
|
CHORDATA
|
|
Class:
|
MAMMALIA
|
|
Order:
|
CARNIVORA
|
|
Family:
|
MUSTELIDAE
|
|
Scientific Name:
|
Mustela lutreola
|
|
Species Authority:
|
(Linnaeus, 1761)
|
|
Common Name/s:
|
EUROPEAN MINK (Eng)
|
Assessment Information
|
Red List Category & Criteria:
|
EN A1ace ver 2.3 (1994)
|
|
Year Assessed:
|
1996
|
|
Annotations:
|
Needs updating
|
|
Assessor/s:
|
Mustelid Specialist Group
|
|
History:
|
| 1988 | - | Vulnerable (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988) |
| 1990 | - | Vulnerable (IUCN 1990) |
| 1994 | - | Endangered (Groombridge 1994) |
|
Geographic Range
|
Range Description:
|
Native to Europe. Before its present decline the European mink occurred in non-Mediterranean France and in adjacent provinces of north western Spain, in northern and eastern Germany, Poland, eastern Austria, Czechoslovakia, eastern Yugoslavia, Hungary, Bulgaria, northern Romania, central and southern Finland and the western parts of what was the USSR.
|
|
Countries:
|
Native:
Belarus; France; Kazakhstan; Romania; Russian Federation; Spain
Regionally extinct:
Austria; Bulgaria; Czech Republic; Estonia; Finland; Georgia; Germany; Hungary; Latvia; Lithuania; Moldova, Republic of; Netherlands; Poland; Slovakia
Uncertain presence and origin:
Greece; Ukraine
|
Population
|
Population:
|
M. lutreola is now extinct or greatly reduced over most of its former range (Schreiber, et al. 1989).
|
|
Population Trend:
|
|
Habitat and Ecology
|
Habitat and Ecology:
|
Inhabits densely vegetated banks of rivers and streams.
|
|
System:
|
Terrestrial
|
Threats
|
Threats:
|
The feral American mink, M. vison, also occurs over many parts of the European mink's range, having escaped from fur farms. Competition and direct aggression with M. vison are the main threats to the European mink population. Overhunting and habitat loss were serious threats to M. lutreola in the past and are still problems in some parts of its current range. In France an additional threat comes from unintentional poisoning and trapping as a result of efforts to control coypu populations in the area. Accidental mortality through vehicle collisions also affect populations in western areas of its range.
|
Conservation Actions
|
Conservation Actions:
|
Legally protected in all range countries except Russia. At least part of the population occurs within protected areas (Schreiber et al. 1989).
|
