DISTRIBUTION OF THE MUSKRAT (ONDATRA ZIBETHICUS L.) AND THE AMERICAN MINK (NEOVISON VISON SCHREBER) IN YAKUTIA (NORTHEASTERN ASIA, RUSSIA)

This paper discusses the results of the introduction of the muskrat and American mink in Yakutia (Russia). The time course of harvesting of muskrat skins during an eighty-one-year period (1941-2021) is also analyzed. A map of quantitative distribution of muskrats in Yakutia was constructed on the basis of the harvesting data. The work on muskrat introduction was described within the framework of hunting activities of unitary enterprise of Sakhabult Financial Agro-Industrial Concern in 2002-2004, when 975 muskrats were resettled in the republic, including 60 animals brought from Altai Krai. Data on the abundance and occurrence of the American mink in Yakutia are provided, and the modern geographic range of this animal is outlined. Information about the introduction of 337 American minks in 1985-1986 by Ust-Mayskiy State Hunting/Fishery Enterprise in the basins of the rivers Maya and Khamna is given.