What a marten looks like (photo): a virtuoso forest predator. Behavioral features and lifestyle of martens Shelters and territories

View: Marten - Martes (lat.)
Family: Kunya
Squad: Predatory
Class: mammals
Type: chordates
Subtype: Vertebrates
Dimensions:
body length - 33-56 cm, tail - 17-28 cm, height at the withers - 15 cm
weight - 0.5-2.4 kg
Lifespan: up to 20 years in captivity

A resident of forests, the marten prefers the upper tier of centuries-old spruces and pines. Nimble and unusually agile, she quickly climbs trees, makes dizzying jumps and grabs prey on the fly. Under the fragile body beats the heart of a ruthless and bloodthirsty hunter. Let's see what a marten looks like, a photo, what it eats and where it lives.

Habitat

Preferring forest lands, martens quite widely inhabited the territory of the Earth. Their habitat starts from Western Siberia, extends to the forests of Scotland and Ireland, affects the northern regions, and continues its way south to the forest expanses of the Caucasus and the Mediterranean.

In terms of landscape, the animal chooses mature forests, with a sufficient number of hollow trees and abundant deadwood. It is in such an environment that the little predator feels comfortable, arranging a house in hollows, she rarely descends to the ground, moving along the branches and trunks of trees.

Interesting! Using its tail as a balance beam, the marten makes jumps of 4 meters, jumping from tree to tree.

Characteristic

Possessing acute hearing, smell and vision, the large marten is nocturnal. She does not stay long in one place and is not tied to one lair. The animal easily finds shelter in squirrel hollows and bird nests, having previously destroyed them. The flexible body allows the animal to squeeze into narrow gaps between the stones and arrange daytime rest there.

The marten likes a solitary lifestyle. Pairs are formed only to produce offspring. An excellent hunter, an animal, looking for food for itself, also performs another important mission, regulating the number of small rodents in its territory. Surprisingly, in one day of hunting, the animal can cover a distance of 20 km. Winding intricate loops around its territory, the animal seeks out prey until it is satisfied. Having eaten, the marten lays down to rest in the nearest tree trunk or hollow from the hunting place.

Appearance

The slender, long body of the marten is covered with fur with no less long pile. In ancient Russia, marten fur was highly valued and served as a monetary unit. Sheaves of marten skins were used to pay for goods and services, from which the kuna also received its name.

• On the throat and on the bottom of the neck of the animal there is a beautiful yellow spot, often taking bizarre forms of drops that accidentally fell on the body of the animal.
• The neat muzzle is elongated into a sharp triangle. The head is crowned with rather large ears, with slightly rounded edges.

• The fluffy tail of the animal can be equal in length to the body. There are five toes on the paws, with semi-retractable claws, which help the marten deftly climb trees and securely grab prey.

• The fur changes its color depending on the season: in winter it is dark brown, with yellowish hues, in summer it fades and is significantly reduced in length.
• The back is colored darker, and the sides and abdomen take on light shades of the main color.

Interesting! Among the large family of mustelids, there are individuals with yellow and silvery fur, like the marten, in one of the species of which, the Nilgir marten, the throat is colored bright orange.

Key Features

Not favoring walking on the ground, the marten most often finds the animal on branches or in hollows of trees. Throughout its life, the marten moves by jumping, leaving paired paw prints on the snow and ground. Without drastically changing the area of ​​residence, the animal can have several shelters on the territory for sleeping and breeding cubs. A small predator does not leave its site even when it becomes bad with food.

In hunting, he prefers night time, visiting nests of birds, hollows of squirrels, and guards of small rodents, sitting comfortably on a tree branch. Small, but surprisingly brave and strong, the marten can cope with a hare and wring the neck of a capercaillie.

It is not uncommon for martens to visit chicken coops. Unable to carry away all the prey, the animal can strangle all the chickens, for which it deserved the just wrath of people. However, it is a mistake to think that it is greed that guides the animal. Everything is much simpler: frightened by the invasion of a predator, the birds begin to rush about randomly, warming up the predatory instinct of the animal, so it “calms” both them and itself.

Nutrition

Interesting! The marten loves to visit bee hives, feasting on honey and larvae there. She will not pass by a fat caterpillar either.

Such omnivorousness helps the animal in years that are not rich in small game. In addition, the marten willingly makes stocks for the winter, clogging the hollows with plant products.

reproduction

Puberty occurs at the age of 14 months in both the female and the male. However, mating usually occurs at the age of 2 - 3 years. The mating season begins in early June and lasts until July. At this time, females go into heat, which last about 4 days, with an interval of 6 - 17 days.

Interesting! Pregnancy of a marten lasts about 28 days, but before that there is a latent stage of development, lasting 235 - 275 days.

One female brings from 2 to 7 puppies, which stay with their mother for 3 months. If the birth was late, then the puppies can live in their native den until spring.

Breeding, fishing, commercial value

Of the mustelid family, only a few species are not of interest in terms of fur production. Most, starting with the king of sable fur, are considered valuable fur-bearing animals. Gorgeous marten fur coats adorn the wardrobes of modern fashionistas and are inexpensive. Practical and beautiful marten fur can withstand 7 seasons of wear and rightfully occupies one of the leading positions in the popularity lists.

Interesting! The structure of marten fur is well ventilated without retaining dust particles, which increases its hypoallergenic properties.

The annual hunting for the marten is strictly limited due to the limited number of the animal in its habitats. At fur auctions, the sale of marten skins is limited to 500 pieces. In the methods of hunting for an animal, fishing with a dog remains the best. Traps and snares into which the animal falls do not provide high-quality raw materials. During the time that the hunter takes to check the traps, small rodents and other predators manage to spoil the fur.

To meet industrial needs, martens are actively bred on fur farms. Attempts to buy a marten for home keeping often fail. It is difficult to find puppies obtained in captivity, and those brought from the forest either die or require special conditions for normal development. A marten is not kept in a small cage; for it, it is necessary to build a large aviary equipped with trees, hidden manholes and other attributes of the free life of the animal.

In nature, animals rarely live up to 5 - 6 years, but in captivity, with proper care, they successfully grow old, living 18 - 20 years.

What does the common marten that lives in our forests and mountains look like? If someone asks such a question, then you can usually make a description based on the appearance of a familiar object. Everyone has seen a bear, at least in the zoo and in the picture. So reduce the bear ten times, make his body long, slender and light. Do not forget to stretch and lighten the muzzle. Yes, the paws also need to be made small, light, but always clawed. This is where the marten will turn out.

Martens are carnivorous mammals from the mustelid family.

Martens are carnivorous mammals from the mustelid family. Their closest relatives, in addition to several types of martens proper, are:

• sable;
• mink;
• ermine;
• caress;
• solong;
• columns;
• ferret;
• dressing;
• charza;
• pecan;
• wolverine;
• badger;
• skunk;
• otter;
• sea ​​otter

Thus, the weasel family includes a very small weasel and a huge wolverine that looks more like a bear. However, all mustelids are agile, fast and strong predators.

The animals of this species are of medium height, in the sense that their parameters are in the middle between a giant wolverine and a dwarf weasel. The marten is a digitigrade, predatory animal with short five-fingered paws. The toes on the paws are located freely and armed with sharp claws, which allows the animal to easily and quickly climb trees. The muzzle of the marten is sharp with short ears, divided into 2 parts. Her body is long, slender, streamlined, well adapted for fast movement through trees and for sharp jumps over long distances.

The tail is relatively long, reaching half the length of the body in size. It differs from the squirrel's tail in the absence of a fan, which increases the streamlining of the body and the speed of movement through trees, as well as in the mountains over stones and rocks.

Only 2 types of martens live on the territory of Russia - forest and stone. The predominant species is the pine marten.

The color of the pine marten ranges from chestnut to dark brown with a yellowish rounded throat patch. In winter, the fur of the animal is long and silky, in summer it becomes shorter and stiffer.

Like many representatives of this family, the body of the pine marten is oblong with relatively short legs and hair on the feet. In length, the growth of the animal is about 50 cm, while the length of the tail does not exceed 28 cm, it weighs an average of about 1.5 kg. Males are usually a third heavier than females.

The marten is a digitigrade, predatory animal with short five-fingered paws.

Forest marten (video)

Food preferences of martens

To say that martens are predators is like saying nothing. Formally, predators include all animals that themselves kill other animals and immediately eat them. However, can a sundew plant be called a predator? Of course, it is possible, she herself kills animals and eats them herself. But is the sparrow a predator? Yes, this is also a predator, terrifying all sorts of boogers.

The marten is a predatory animal without any reservations. She eats everything that runs, swims, flies, jumps, crawls. Its victims are:

• all murine;
• any bird that did not have time to dodge claws and teeth;
• proteins;
• chipmunks;
• other mustelids that are inferior in strength and size;
• all invertebrates.

The marten is a predatory animal without any reservations

The animal can even eat cubs of a fox, a wolf, a badger, a wild boar, if their parents have gone somewhere. However, the main food of martens are rodents and birds.

Firstly, the bodies of these animals are large enough to saturate the marten at least for a while. Secondly, there are enough of them in order to maintain the optimal number of these medium-sized predators.

Gallery: marten animal (25 photos)

Lifestyle and biotope

Forest martens fully meet their name. Everything in them is adapted to life on trees. Stone martens also got their name because of the way of life and confinement to certain biotopes. They can live perfectly among trees, but they feel just as good in open mountain spaces among rocks and stones.

And yet mustelids are originally forest dwellers. All their evolutionary changes are associated with changes in biotopes, in which the environmental role of trees gradually became less and less significant. The only exception to this rule is the wolverine, which is too big to jump on branches and easily fly from tree to tree.

All martens are able to climb and jump trees well, easily overcoming a distance of up to 4 m in a jump. Moving in a complex structure of a tree, they are able to turn their feet 180 °. Such plasticity is typical for all dart frogs.

If we talk about the composition of the forest where martens prefer to settle, then these are mainly mixed coniferous-deciduous forests. This confinement is due to the fact that here every small animal can find enough food for itself. In such forests, mice, squirrels, chipmunks can feed on:

• nuts of coniferous plants;
• mushrooms;
• grass;
• root crops;
• acorns and fruits of deciduous trees;
• invertebrate animals.

A good food base for animals is the so-called upland game, that is, large birds that feed on needles, grains and grass. Various partridges, hazel grouses and even capercaillie are quite accessible for food to such a strong and resourceful predator as a marten.

The diet of the stone marten is somewhat different from that of the forest marten. However, the differences are not radical. Among mountain screes, mountain bunnies - pikas can become food. On the steppe areas, ground squirrels can replenish the food supply. For the rest, the basis of nutrition is all the same murines and birds.

Martens also live in deciduous forests, especially in oak forests, since acorns and fruits of other deciduous trees attract squirrels, mice and birds.

However, the most acceptable biotope for the marten is the taiga and mixed forests. Here she finds not only food in abundance, but also secluded places for breeding.

Marten hunting for squirrel (video)

Shelters and territories

All martens prefer to settle in hollows. In the forest, hollow, but still quite lively and strong trees are always in great short supply. In addition to martens, squirrels, chipmunks, birds (woodpeckers, pikas, nuthatches, tits, etc.) claim such hollows. Once upon a time, Far Eastern white-breasted bears lived and wintered in them. Now, when large trees have become an extremely rare occurrence, these bears are sometimes forced to spend the winter simply in a hole under a bush, which is not always compatible with the harsh Far Eastern winters.

Where the trees themselves become scarce, martens already live in minks among stones. Hence the name of the species - stone marten. In addition to the space between stones, this marten can use abandoned or reclaimed nests of large birds.

This beast can divide all shelters into places where you can sleep and sit out the bad weather, and into places where you can create a lair. Sometimes these concepts coincide, but the conditions for the den must be special.

Wood martens are animals with pronounced territorial behavior. In order to keep the site, it must be fenced off. Martens, like all mammals, do this with the help of smells. The marker is odorous substances secreted by the anal gland. The formation of odor boundaries is necessary, first of all, in order to fence off same-sex individuals. The territories of males and females may overlap.

Usually, males have a larger area of ​​their own than females. The size of the plots depends on the ability of the individual not only to apply scent marks along the periphery of the plot, but also to prove its right to this territory. A large individual can win a large area.

There are differences in the size of the plot and the seasons. In winter, the territories of individual individuals can be half as large as in summer. A small winter area is easier to defend in conditions of deep snow and less abundance of food.

Reproduction and fertility

Martens usually mate in the middle of summer, but the first cub does not appear until April of the following year. This is not due to a long period of pregnancy, but to such a phenomenon as semen conservation. After fertilization, the development of the embryo is delayed until favorable times. For most mammals, these times are spring and early summer. During the summer and autumn months, the cub will be able to grow up enough to safely endure the winter, and the next summer begin to pick up a mate for procreation.

On average, no more than 3 babies are born at a time. Each cub is no more than 10 cm long. For about 2 months, marten children are in the nest. Then they begin to go beyond it and explore the surroundings.

After 4 months of home education, that is, by about September, marten children become completely independent. However, this does not prevent them from accompanying their mother until next spring. By the next summer, young martens become fully sexually mature, but they usually breed in the third year of life.

These animals live in captivity for about 16 years. In the wild, the aging of the body does not allow them to safely obtain food and defend themselves from other predators, so their life span is estimated at no more than a dozen years.

Marten and man: facets of interaction

The relationship between humans and animals can be very different. Predators can pose a direct danger to human life or to farm animals. In this regard, martens somewhere in the Moscow region try to stay away from settlements. For human health and life, they do not pose any danger, except for the situation when the person himself forces the poor animal to defend itself and protect its offspring.

Of course, there is a possibility that in the winter starvation, the animal will climb into the chicken coop and take the chicken to its dense forest. However, this happens extremely rarely.

It is believed that the stone marten attacks chicken coops more often than its forest relative. Perhaps this is due to the fact that in the habitats of this species, the number of mice and other small animals and birds is much less than in the mixed forests of Eurasia.

There is another explanation for the arrivals of martens to where a person lives himself, stores his supplies and keeps domestic animals. This is the destruction of the natural habitats of these animals.

The forests are getting smaller and the houses are getting bigger. At the same time, it is the zone of mixed forest that suffers the most, where the marten has still found food and shelter in sufficient quantities. Deforestation and development, of course, greatly destroy the natural habitat of martens. However, the pyrogenic factor can be recognized as the most destructive.

Crown fires destroy trees completely, forming grass or grass-shrub thickets instead of forests. In such conditions, pine martens cannot live. The surviving animals, if they have nowhere to migrate, try to feed, breed and spend the winter in the ashes. As a result, they are forced to visit people's homes, which usually also ends badly for them.

If the fires are grassroots (grass, bedding, shrubs, undergrowth) and frequent, trees get pyrotrauma. After a few years of such fire exposure, the tree can burn out and fall. So frequent ground fires lead to the same result as top fires. Only the process is slower. For martens and other arboreal animals, the result is the same - death from starvation, migration to forests that have not yet burned down, raids on rich human bins.

The conclusion is simple - do not destroy the marten biotope and it will bypass your dwellings. This animal loves to live in dense forest thickets, where there is something to feed on and where to hide. Leave him such thickets and he will not be interested in your household.

Attention, only TODAY!

One of the largest representatives of the marten genus is the marten (yellow-breasted or Ussuri marten, lat. Martes flavigula). The animal grows up to 80 cm in length, and about 40 cm more falls on the tail. For comparison: the maximum indicator of the pine marten is 58 cm, the American one is 45 cm.

In addition to its impressive size, the harza is distinguished by its variegated multi-color coloring. Admire: the top of the head and muzzle are black, the lower jaw is white, the hair on the throat and chest is bright yellow, on the body this color fades to a golden hue, and, finally, the tail and legs are dark brown. Such an exotic coloring, characteristic of tropical animals, went to the Ussuri marten for a reason - thanks to it, other, larger predators do not tend to hunt the marten.

The summer fur of the Ussuri martens is darker, shorter and coarser than the winter fur. Despite the beautiful shade, this fur is not highly valued, so the harza is not a desirable prey for hunters either. The biggest danger that threatens this species is deforestation and, as a result, the disappearance of the usual habitat and food supply.

Kharza fully justifies the aphorism "Movement is life." She runs fast, quickly climbs trees and deftly jumps from branch to branch. In this, she is helped by long sharp claws, surprisingly mobile fingers, and large powerful paws in general.

Jumping from tree to tree, the beast makes jumps up to 4 meters. All this allows him to be one of the most successful and strong taiga predators: his diet includes not only nuts or insects, but also squirrels, mice, hares, sables, birds and even such a large ungulate animal as musk deer (lat. Moschus moschiferus) .
By the way, the yellow-breasted marten is also a rare species of these predators, which lives and hunts in packs. During the hunt, the kharzes stretch over the terrain and echo with characteristic yapping sounds. All their actions are clearly coordinated - each animal knows what others are doing. The cunning of the kharza has been repeatedly noted by zoologists. Last year, the harza successfully devastated the traps set by the specialists of the "Land of the Leopard" park for research, showing ingenuity and intelligence.

Course "Earth is our home"

Lesson 7 "Marten - squirrel hunter"

The marten, like many animals, sheds, but does not change color. After each molt, her fur improves. Like a fox, marten fur is her misfortune. Why do you think?

So many marten fur hunters have appeared that the marten has to be very careful. It's almost impossible to see her. In addition, the marten is nocturnal.

What time of day does the marten feed? What time of day do you rest?

This animal is quite famous - thanks to the beautiful warm fur. His marten skins were even a kind of "currency" (money) among the ancient Slavs.

V. Bianchi "Marten for a squirrel"

A lot of squirrels came to us in the forest. In the north, where they lived, they did not have enough cones - crop failure there. Scattered on the pines. The hind legs hold on to the branch, and in the front - a bump. They gnaw. One of the bumps fell out of its paws - and onto the ground, into the snow. The squirrel felt sorry for the bumps. She clicked angrily and from branch to branch, from branch to branch - down. Look, and in a pile of brushwood someone's dark hair, quick eyes ...

I forgot the squirrel and the bump. On the first tree lope - and up the trunk. And from brushwood - a marten, but behind her. She quickly climbed the trunk. The squirrel is already at the end of the branch. A marten on a branch, a squirrel - jump! - to another tree. The marten gathered her entire narrow snake body in a lump - her back was an arc - and also jumped ...

The squirrel does not have to choose: jump to the ground - and to another tree. Well, on earth, a squirrel and a marten do not argue. In three jumps she overtook, knocked down - and the end of the squirrel.

The marten is a fast and cunning predator, able to easily overcome numerous obstacles, climb steep trunks and move along tree branches. Of particular value is its beautiful fur of a yellowish-chocolate hue.

Description of the marten

This is a fairly large animal. The habitats of the marten are coniferous and mixed forests, in which there are a sufficient number of old hollow trees and impenetrable thickets of shrubs. It is in such places that the marten can easily get food and find shelter for itself, which it equips in hollows at a height.

It is interesting! The marten can quickly climb trees and even jump from one branch to another, using its magnificent tail as a parachute. She swims and runs excellently (including through a snow-covered forest, since the thick edge on her paws does not allow the animal to fall deep into the snow).

Due to its speed, strength and agility, this animal is an excellent hunter. Its prey is usually small animals, birds and amphibians, and in pursuit of a squirrel, the marten is able to make huge jumps along the branches of trees. The marten often destroys bird nests. Not only ground birds suffer from its raids, but also those that build their nests high in the trees. It should also be noted that the marten benefits humans by regulating the rodent population in its habitat.

Appearance

The marten has a magnificent and beautiful fur coat, which is much silkier in winter than in summer. Its color can have different shades of brown (chocolate, chestnut, brown). The back of the animal is grayish-brown in color, and the sides are much lighter. On the breast, a rounded bright yellow spot is clearly visible, which is much brighter in summer than in winter.

The paws of the marten are rather short, with five fingers, on which there are sharp claws. The muzzle is pointed, with short triangular ears, pubescent along the edges with yellow fur. The body of the marten is squat and has an elongated shape, and the size of an adult is about half a meter. The mass of males is larger than females and rarely exceeds 2 kilograms.

Lifestyle

The physique of the animal directly affects its lifestyle and habits. The marten moves mainly by jumping. The flexible, slender body of the animal allows it to move with lightning speed in the branches, only for a second appearing in the gaps of pines and spruces. The marten likes to live high in the crowns of trees. With the help of her claws, she is able to climb even the smoothest and most even trunks.

It is interesting! This animal most often chooses a diurnal lifestyle. It spends most of its time in trees or hunting. He tries his best to avoid the person.

The marten nests in hollows at a height of more than 10 meters or in the crown of trees.. It is very attached to the chosen areas and does not leave them even with some lack of food. Despite such a sedentary lifestyle, these representatives of the weasel family can migrate after squirrels, which sometimes migrate en masse over considerable distances.

Among the areas of the forest where martens live, two types of areas can be distinguished: passing areas, where they practically do not visit, and “hunting grounds”, where they spend almost all the time. In the warm season, these animals choose a small area that is as rich as possible in food, and try not to leave it. In winter, the lack of food pushes them to expand their land and actively place marks on their routes.

Types of martens

Martens are predators belonging to the mustelid family. There are several species of these animals that have slight differences in appearance and habits, due to their different habitats:

This is a fairly rare and little-studied species of animals. Outwardly, the American marten looks like a forest marten. Its color can vary from yellowish to chocolate shades. The breast has a light yellow color, and the paws can be almost black. The habits of this representative of the weasel family have not yet been fully studied, since the American marten prefers to hunt exclusively at night and avoids people in every possible way.

Quite a large species of marten. The length of his body, together with the tail, in some individuals reaches one meter, and the weight is 4 kilograms. The coat is dark, mostly brown. In summer, the fur is quite hard, but by winter it becomes softer and longer, a noble silvery sheen appears on it. Ilka hunts for squirrels, hares, mice, tree porcupines and birds. Likes to eat fruits and berries. These representatives of the marten family can easily pursue prey not only underground, but also high in the trees.

The main area of ​​its distribution is the territory of Europe. The stone marten often settles not far from human habitation, which is extremely uncharacteristic for representatives of the marten family. The fur of this animal species is quite hard, gray-brown in color. On the neck he has an oblong light area. The characteristic features of the stone marten are a light nose and feet, devoid of edging. The main prey of this species are small rodents, frogs, lizards, birds and insects. In the summer, they can eat plant foods. They can attack domestic chickens and rabbits. It is this species that more often than others becomes the object of hunting and the extraction of valuable fur.

Its habitat is the forests of the European Plain and some parts of Asia. The animal has a brown color with a pronounced yellow spot on the throat. The pine marten is omnivorous, but the main part of its diet is meat. It hunts mainly for squirrels, voles, amphibians and birds. Can eat carrion. In the warm season, it eats fruits, berries and nuts.

This representative of the marten family has such an unusual color that many consider this animal to be an independent species. - a fairly large animal. The length of the body (including the tail) sometimes exceeds one meter, and the weight of individual specimens can be 6 kilograms. The wool has a beautiful sheen. It hunts mainly for squirrels, sables, chipmunks, raccoon dogs, hares, birds and rodents. Can diversify the diet due to insects or frogs. There have been cases of the attack of the kharza on the cubs of the elk, deer, wild boar. It also eats nuts, berries and wild honey.

Quite a large member of the family. Its length reaches one meter, and weight - up to 2.5 kilograms. The habits and way of life of the Nilgir Harza have been studied rather poorly. It is believed that the animal prefers a diurnal lifestyle and lives mainly in trees. Scientists admit that during the hunt, the animal descends to the ground, like other types of martens. Some eyewitnesses claim that they witnessed the hunting of this animal for birds and squirrels.

How long does a marten live

The life expectancy of a marten under favorable conditions can reach 15 years, but in the wild they live much less. This animal has many competitors in terms of food production - all medium and large predatory inhabitants of the forest. However, there are no enemies that pose a serious threat to the population of martens in nature.

In certain areas, the number of animals depends on spring floods (during which a significant part of the rodents, which are one of the main components of the diet of martens, die) and constant deforestation (destruction of old forests can eventually lead to the complete disappearance of these animals).

Range, habitats

The life of the marten is closely connected with the forest. Most often it can be found in spruce, pine or other coniferous forests. In the northern habitats, they are spruce or fir, and in the southern areas, spruce or mixed forests.

For a permanent place of residence, she chooses forests rich in windbreak, old tall trees, large edges, as well as an abundance of glades with young undergrowth.

The marten can choose flat areas and mountain forests, where it lives in the valleys of large rivers and streams. Some species of this animal prefer rocky areas and stone placers. Most of these representatives of mustelids try to avoid human habitats. An exception is the stone marten, which can settle directly near human settlements.

It is interesting! Unlike other members of the family, for example, sables (living only in Siberia), the marten is distributed almost throughout the entire European territory, up to the Ural Mountains and the Ob River.