Weighing in at a hefty ½ kg to 1 kg (1-2 pounds) and measuring about ½ metre (2 ft ), the mink live to 8 to 10 years of age unless eaten by one of it’s many natural predators including bald eagles and owls. Humans used to hunt mink for their prized fur but today minks are farmed rather than hunted.
The mink has a gestation period of a little more than a month, and like a lot of it’s close relatives, has a process called delayed implantation, where the embryo enters a dormant state until favorable environmental conditions allow the gestation period to begin. Birth usually occurs in the spring and the young mink stay with their mother until the fall when they become independent. Males have very little to do with caring for their young and often do not hang around for long after reproducing.
Curiously, the mink is very cat like, in the sense that they are extremely territorial, marking their territories with scent and often purr when happy.
For more information on the North American River Otter, please follow this wiki link