It’s 2023, does anyone still wear mink?

Many people may have heard of the folk proverb about the " Three Treasures of Guandong ", but not many people know that there are two versions of the "Three Treasures". The old version says that the "Three Treasures" are "ginseng, mink fur, and ula grass", while the new version says "ginseng, mink fur, and deer antler". The second-ranked item in both the old and new versions is "mink fur" .

Mink, bloody fashion | Kuerschner / Wikipedia

The " mink " in the folk proverb "mink fur" actually refers to the sable (Martes zibellina).

Mustelidae

The sable was once a typical species in the cold temperate coniferous forests of northern Eurasia . This compact mustelid animal is found in China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, North Korea and Japan. Among them, in China, it is only distributed in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains in Northeast China, Changbai Mountain and the Altai Mountain forest area in Xinjiang.

Although they are called sables, their fur colors vary , the most common being fawn to dark brown. They are similar in size to a medium-sized domestic cat, with male sables having a head-body length of 32 to 53 cm and a weight of 1.15 to 1.85 kg; female sables are slightly smaller, with a head-body length of 30 to 48 cm and a weight of 0.65 to 1.6 kg.

The tail length of both male and female sables is no more than half of the head-body length, which is also an important feature for identifying them in the wild . The other two members of the genus Marten in China, the yellow-throated marten (M. flavigula) is slender and has a tail length close to the head-body length; the stone marten (M. foina) is more solid, with a tail length of about half the head-body length and a more fluffy tail.

Comparison of three species of marten: purple marten, yellow-throated marten, and stone marten | Tokumi, Rushenb, M.zlinko / Wikimedia Commons

Among the living carnivores, the Mustelidae family is the most prosperous, with nearly 60 known species, accounting for about a quarter of the total number of Carnivores . The sable, the yellow weasel, the blindfolded marten, the sea otter, the Eurasian otter and the weasel all belong to the Mustelidae family. Among them, the sea otter and the Eurasian otter belong to the subfamily Lutrinae, and the other four belong to the subfamily Mustelinae. In the subfamily Mustelinae, the size of the Martes genus is medium, generally larger than the members of the Mustela genus, and it is not difficult to distinguish these two types of animals in the wild.

But the Chinese names may sometimes cause confusion. For example, the ferret is actually domesticated from the snow weasel (Mustela putorius); and the most commonly used "mink fur" actually comes from the North American water weasel (Neovison vison) of the genus Neisseria.

North American water mink | Cephas / Wikimedia Commons

Sables prefer high-density larch forests with dense canopies. They have a wide range of diets , mainly small rodents, but also prey on pikas, hares and birds. In winter, they eat more plant foods such as pine seeds, berries, nuts, and occasionally fish and freshwater crustaceans. Although it is not large in size, there have been records of it hunting adult musk deer trapped in the snow. In winter, it will also pick up the carcasses of ungulates that died of natural causes to survive, and has the habit of storing excess food. It usually forages alone and mainly moves on the ground, but it also has strong climbing abilities and is equally active in trees.

The life-saving plan almost wiped out the clan

The annual average temperature in the cold temperate zone is below 0℃, and the lowest temperature in winter is often below -30℃. In order to resist the severe cold, the fur of the sable has a lot of knowledge. Just like we humans will wear several thick layers of clothes in the cold winter, the fur of an adult sable is also divided into several layers: guard hair, lanceolate hair, down guard hair and down hair. The guard hair is flexible and rough, mainly for protection, while the down hair is soft and fluffy, responsible for heat insulation. In winter, there are about 44 down hairs around each guard hair, and in summer, the number of down hairs will drop by half.

The fur of sables can be divided into multiple layers, which is very warm | zooclub.ru

Using a special fiber fineness analyzer to observe and measure, it is found that the diameter of sable hair is only about 65 microns, and the medulla of the hair is well developed, which can accommodate a large amount of static air, so it has good thermal insulation function. These structural characteristics make sable fur have the reputation of " warming up in the wind, melting snow, not getting wet in water, and not hurting the eyes ", but it is also this precious fur that brings them fatal disasters.

As the "Diaochan crown" gradually became a symbol of social status, sable fur from the Northeast began to become famous since the Han Dynasty. Politically, it became the main tribute item for the ethnic minorities in the Northeast to the central and local governments ; economically, it became an important source of materials for these ethnic groups, and sometimes it could even replace money for circulation ; culturally, it became a standard feature of the clothing of the Central Plains dignitaries .

In the sixth chapter of Dream of the Red Chamber, Wang Xifeng appears wearing a sable Zhaojun suit, a pearl belt, a pink flowered jacket, a dark blue silk grey squirrel cape, and a bright red crepe silver squirrel skin skirt. | TV series Dream of the Red Chamber 1987 version

According to records, as early as the Three Kingdoms period, the Gongsun clan, who ruled Liaodong, presented sable skins to Sun Quan of Wu in order to consolidate their own regime. They "sent a thousand sable skins and wanted to bring the whole country back to Wu". In 1018 AD, the Khitan regime of the Liao Dynasty ordered the five Jurchen tribes of Yuelidu, Gelia, Orim, Bonuli and Tieli to "tribute 56,000 sable skins annually". In the Qing Dynasty, although the Manchus abandoned the "Diaochan crown" with a history of nearly 2,000 years after entering the Central Plains, the annual tribute of sable skins continued, and a complete reward system centered on the tribute of sables was formed .

The tribute of minks was no longer limited to an economic activity, but was given a strong political color , reflecting the subordinate relationship between the border tribes and the central government, and was also an important manifestation of the exercise of political power.

Mink | Mickey Bohnacker / Wikipedia

The great value of sable fur has made the Valka, Oroqen, Ewenki and Manchu peoples in the Baishan and Heishui regions all develop skilled sable hunting skills. They all believe in the sable god and have formed a series of taboos in the mountains: for example, sable fur clothing cannot be worn when hunting sables; captured sables cannot be skinned on the spot and must be taken a hundred steps away. The rituals of offering sacrifices and thanking the sable god before and after hunting sables have also become a part of the hunting life of the northern ethnic minorities.

Sable in a cage | B. & C. Alexander / naturepl.com

The long-lasting sable hunting and the huge trade eventually dealt a heavy blow to sables. According to records, the Liao Dynasty "Shiwei" Kingdom located in the Ergun River Basin in the upper reaches of the Heilongjiang River was famous for its large number of sables in the early 10th century AD. "The custom of the northern Shiwei people is to hunt sables, and Shiwei also has many sables." The "Wuhuan" in the area of ​​the Nenjiang River in Heilongjiang and the "Xianbei" west of Horqin Right Banner in Inner Mongolia are all places recorded in ancient books as producing sable furs, but today the sables in the above areas no longer exist .

The sable plague continues

Sable fur has been highly sought after not only in Chinese history, but also in the European market since the Middle Ages. The same tragedy has been repeated. In the past, sables could be found in the vast cold temperate coniferous forests from the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe to the coast of the Russian Far East. However, due to the rampant hunting driven by the fur trade, they have now completely disappeared from Northern and Central Europe .

Russia is now the main distribution area of ​​sable , with an estimated wild population of over 1 million, and a large captive population that can still provide a large amount of sable skins to the market every year.

A mink fur factory in Russia | BBC NEWS

China began to try to raise sables in captivity in 1957, becoming the second country after the former Soviet Union to establish a breeding population of sables . In order to protect sables in China, they were listed as a national first-class protected wild animal in 1989, and hunting was expressly prohibited. According to the assessment in the book "China Red List of Species Volume II Vertebrates", the population of sables in China is less than 6,000, and habitat loss, fragmentation and poaching caused by human factors are the biggest threats they face today.

Those feudal nobles who once wore sable tails on their heads to show their status have long gone into the dust of history, but today many people still pursue a luxurious sable fur coat. Just to protect against the cold, they never thought that it has caused so many disputes and entanglements in the world for thousands of years. I wonder if the sables living in the Taiga forest would seriously ask: Is it my fault?

Author: Birdman Robbi

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

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