There are two living species referred to as "minks": the American mink and the European mink. The extinct sea mink is related to the American mink, but was much larger. All three species are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters and ferrets. The American mink is larger and more adaptable than the European mink. Due to variations in size, an individual mink usually cannot be determined as European or American with certainty without looking at the skeleton. There is one exception to this rule: all European minks have a large white patch on their upper lip, while only some American minks do. Thus, any mink with no such patch is certainly of the American variety. Taxonomically, both American and European minks used to be placed in the same genus Mustela ("weasels"), but most recently the American mink has been reclassified as belonging to its own genus Neovison. The American mink's fur has been highly prized for its use in clothing, with hunting giving way to farming; for instance, in Digby County, Nova Scotia, Canada alone, there are around two million mink raised on ranches per year. Its treatment has also been a focus of animal rights and animal welfare activism. American mink have found their way into the wild in Europe (including Great Britain) and South America, after being released from mink farms by animal rights activists or otherwise escaping from captivity. American mink are believed by some to have contributed to the decline of the less hardy European mink through competition (though not through hybridization—native European mink are in fact closer to polecats than to their North American cousins). Trapping is used to control or eliminate feral American mink populations. Mink oil is used in some medical products and cosmetics, as well as to treat, preserve and waterproof leather.

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