Pine Marten
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| Martes martes (Linnaeus, 1758) |
- This article is about the European Pine Marten. For the North American Pine Marten, see American Marten.
The Pine Marten (Martes martes) is an animal in the weasel family, native to Northern Europe. It's around the size of a domestic cat. Its body is up to 53 cm in length, its bushy tail can be 25 cm. Males are slightly larger than females; on average a marten weighs around one and a half kilograms. Their fur is usually light to dark brown and grows longer and silkier during the winter months. They have a cream to yellow colored "bib" marking on their throats.
Their habitat is usually well-wooded areas. Pine Martens usually make their own dens in hollow trees or scrub-covered fields. Martens are the only mustelids with semi-retractable claws. This enables them to lead more arboreal lifestyles, such as climbing or running on tree branches, although they are also relatively quick runners on the ground. They are mainly active at night and dusk. They have small rounded, highly sensitive ears and sharp teeth for eating small mammals, birds, insects, frogs, and carrion. They have also been known to eat berries, bird's eggs, and honey. Pine Martens are territorial animals, they mark their range by depositing faeces in prominent locations.
Although they are preyed upon occasionally by golden eagles and even more rarely by red foxes, humans are their most formidable adversaries. Martens are prized for their very fine fur, and loss of habitat leading to fragmentation, persecution by gamekeepers, human disturbance, illegal poisoning and shooting have declined the Pine Marten population considerably. Pine Martens and their dens are offered full protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981 and the Environmental Protection Act, 1990.
The pine marten has lived to 18 years in captivity, but in the wild a lifespan of eight to ten years is more typical. They reach sexual maturity at two or three years of age. The young are usually born in March or April after a month-long gestation period in litters of one to five. Young pine martens weigh around 30 grams at birth. The young begin to emerge out of their dens by the middle of June and are fully independent around six months after their birth.
[edit] Trivia
- In Finland, the dark-furred European pine marten is known as a nokia.
- The fictional character Pantalaimon (from the book trilogy 'His Dark Materials') eventually settles upon the form of a Pine Marten.
- A pine marten named Psipsina (meaning "little cat") plays an important role in the novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin.
- In the Redwall series, by Brian Jacques, pine martens are featured in three of his books (the books being Mossflower, The Pearls of Lutra, and High Rhulain).
- There is a band known as "Martes Martes" from Ann Arbor MI.
- The rock and roll band Jethro Tull has a song called "The Pine Marten's Jig" featured on the album A.
[edit] References
- Aigas Field Centre pine marten ecology page
- Mustelid Specialist Group (1996). Martes martes. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.
- International Ferret Congress
- ArKive.org: Information, movies and images of the Pine Marten
