Field observation of male infanticide in the American mink (Neovison vison)

Infanticide is becoming an issue of great interest among mammalogists and so are the forces driving infanticidal behaviour in territorial carnivores. Here we report a case of male-driven infanticide in the American mink. The victimized female defended her two cubs against a male. After several violent encounters, the male wounded the female, and then it was able to kill the offspring. The male later copulated with the female, thus we suppose that the case is more related to sexual selection than intraspecific aggression. Nonetheless, the female died before the potential parturition, and owing that female mink breed once per year, there are some pitfalls in the interpretation of this case.