During the waterbird count in Bergen (western Norway) today, we witnessed some real mammal action. First we discovered a Mink Neovison vison swimming in a small slip in the ice at lake Store Lungegårdsvann. It was apparently stressed, and swam back and fourth in the water. Suddenly a Rat Rattus norvegicus (first actually thought to be another Mink because of its large size) popped up from a crack in the wall. The Mink speeded against it, and the Rat had no other option than to jump in the water. When the Mink approached it, the Rat dived under the ice, and we could see the more swim-efficient Mink catching up to its prey. They both emerged in the ice free slip, and the Rat was far from dead. The Mink had a proper grip around the Rats head, and they fought intensively for half a minute or so, before they disappeared under the pier we hung out on. A desperate scream from the Rat was the last we heard of them.
Seeing a proper sized mammal kill another is not something I experience often. A moment of literally breathtaking action.
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