The American Mink is a foot-long, tawny-furred, semiaquatic member of the Mustelidae family, cousin to weasels and otters. Sleek and elongate, minks snake through water and into animal burrows with equal ease, taking everything from crabs and fledgling birds to fish, frogs and rodents as prey. Minks are commonly killed by humans for their dense, luxuriant pelts; before commercial breeding took hold in the 1890s, the trapping of wild minks was practiced across the continent by aboriginal peoples and European fur traders. Their traps typically drowned the animal, thus keeping its integument intact.