A rare species of mink has been filmed in the Florida Everglades carrying a huge snake in its mouth.
The footage, which was captured by Hannah Cardenas and posted to Facebook by Jen Hammer Cardenas, was re-shared by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
It showed the small mammal emerge from a bank of trees and run across a dirt road while clearly clutching a snake in its mouth before disappearing out of view.
The video generated thousands of responses and reactions on Facebook while the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission offered further context on the clip.
Re-posting the video, a spokesperson for the organization wrote: “Imagine the surprise seeing this Everglades mink scampering across the road carrying DINNER! A mother and daughter were on their way home from a nature hike in Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park when they spotted this mink run across the road in front of them – seconds later, it ran BACK across the road with a GIANT SNAKE in its mouth!”
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said that, despite the disparity in sizes, mink were capable of eating animals including snakes over twice their size.
“Mink can eat small mammals, fish, birds and SNAKES more than twice their body length. They are a state threatened species and sightings are rare due to their elusive nature. Minks are much smaller than their river otter relatives (about half their size),” the organization’s Facebook post read.
Everglades Mink are members of the weasel family of mammals and are semi-aquatic, at home in the swamps and wetlands found in the region.
According to the National Park Service, the animals are “largely crepuscular” in their habits and mostly active and dawn and dusk, suggesting the footage of one carrying a giant snake in broad daylight is even more remarkable than it first appears.
They are known to inhabit the Everglades National Park but there is limited information on their prevalence.
Everglades Mink are reported as a threatened species in Florida, with the state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission citing a number of human activities in the Everglades that have had a negative impact on the species.
Drainage, logging, and the construction of dikes, roads and canals were all cited by the group as posing a direct threat to Everglades Mink in the region. A 2014 study on the animals in Southeastern Naturalist suggested that “very few may be left” in the Everglades region.
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