In its introduced range in Europe it has been classified as an invasive species linked to declines in European mink, Pyrenean desman, and water vole populations.

It is the animal most frequently farmed for its fur, exceeding the silver fox, sable, marten, and skunk in economic importance.

[12] The skull is similar to that of the European mink, but is more massive, narrower, and less elongated, with more strongly developed projections and a wider, shorter cranium.

The American mink may nest in burrows dug previously by muskrats, badgers and skunks, and may also dig dens in old ant hills.

[22] During aggressive interactions, mink assert their dominance by arching their backs, puffing up, lashing out their tails, and stomping and scraping the ground with their feet, while also opening their mouth in a threat-gape.

[23] Males commonly fight during the mating season, which may result in the formation of loose, temporary dominance hierarchies governing access to receptive females.

This delayed implantation allows pregnant minks to keep track of environmental conditions and select an ideal time and place for parturition.

It kills vertebrate prey by biting the back of the head or neck, leaving canine puncture marks 9–11 mm (0.35–0.43 in) apart.

Although inferior to the North American river otter in hunting fish, Audubon and Bachman once reported seeing a mink carrying a foot-long trout.

Among the rodents killed by the American mink in its native range are rats and mice of the genera Hesperomys, Microtus, Sigmodon, and Neotoma.

Within the Altai Mountains, the American mink feeds predominantly on mammals such as rodents, shrews, and moles, as well as birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

Minks in Britain prey on several bird species, with ducks, moorhens, and coots being most frequently targeted on lakes and rivers, while gulls are taken in coastal habitats.

Marine species preyed upon in Britain include European eels, rock-pool fish such as blenny, shore crabs and crayfish.

[30] In South America's Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, mammals, including both native and exotic rodents, are the American mink's main prey throughout the year, though birds are of equal importance during their summer nesting periods.

According to Clinton Hart Merriam[32] and Ernest Thompson Seton,[33] although the American mink is a potential poultry thief, it is overall less damaging than the stoat.

In areas where these two species are sympatric, competition with the otter for fish causes the American mink to hunt land-based prey more frequently.

[37] Large birds of prey, such as bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) occasionally hunt American mink.

[38][39] In Finland, white-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) have become the main natural control and may inhibit the mink from breeding via heavy predation.

[41] An early behavioral study was performed in the 1960s to assess visual learning ability in minks, ferrets, skunks, and house cats.

[42] The species' natural range encompasses most of North America, from Alaska, through Canada and further into the United States except Arizona and the more arid areas of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and West Texas.

These feral minks, augmented by further escapees, formed the basis of a strong population in Hordaland by the end of World War II.

[48] The American mink was first imported to Great Britain in 1929, though a series of escapes and releases led to the establishment of a self-sufficient feral population in Devon by the late 1950s, and others by the early 1960s.

Beyond the Urals, American minks were introduced in the Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Omsk, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Chita and Irkutsk Oblasts, in the Altai and Krasnoyarsk Krai, in the Tuvan, Buryat and Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, into the Magadan, Kamchatka and Amur Oblasts, into the Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krai, into the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and several other locations, including Sakhalin and Urup Island.

Although considerable areas were occupied by the American mink by the early 1960s, the species' Soviet range was never continuous, as most released populations were isolated from one another.

Flea species known to infest minks include Palaeopsylla minor, Malaraeus penicilliger, Ctenopthalmus noblis, Megabothris walkeri, Typhloceras poppei, and Nosopsyllus fasciatus.

In times of overpopulation, they control their own numbers by either killing each other through direct conflict or by causing weaker minks to be driven from territory until starvation sets in.

A sullen stare from the crouched, motionless form gives way to a new look of surprise and fear, accompanied with the most violent contortions of the body, with renewed champing of the iron till breathless, with heaving flanks, and open mouth dribbling saliva, the animal settles again, and watches with a look of concentrated hatred, mingled with impotent rage and frightful despair.

The countenance of the Mink, its broad, low head, short ears, small eyes, piggish snout, and formidable teeth, is always expressive of the lower and more brutal passions, all of which are intensified at such times.

[69]One Native American method involved using a bait (usually a slit open chicken carcass filled with fish oil and oysters) tied to a rope and dragged around an area laden with traps.

When an albino mink is born, it is standard procedure in fur farms to breed it to other colour mutations to produce grey and light-brown pastel shades.