The
European Pine Marten (
Martes martes), known most commonly as the
pine marten in Anglophone Europe, and less commonly also known as
Pineten,
baum marten, or
sweet marten, is an animal native to Northern
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
belonging to the mustelid family, which also includes
minkThere are two living species referred to as "mink": the European Mink and the American Mink. The extinct Sea Mink is related to the American Mink, but was much larger. All three species are dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes the weasels and...
,
otterThe Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....
,
badgerBadgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies : Melinae , Mellivorinae , and Taxideinae...
,
wolverineThe wolverine, pronounced , Gulo gulo , also referred to as glutton, carcajou, skunk bear, or quickhatch, is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae . It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids...
and
weaselWeasels are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs....
. It is about the size of a domestic cat. Its body is up to 53 cm in length (21 inches), and its bushy tail can be 25 cm (10 inches). Males are slightly larger than females; on average a marten weighs around 1.5 kg (3.5 lb). Their fur is usually light to dark brown and grows longer and silkier during the winter months. They have a cream to yellow coloured "bib" marking on their throats.
Habitat
Their habitats are usually well-wooded areas. European Pine Martens usually make their own dens in hollow trees or scrub-covered fields. Martens are the only
mustelidMustelidae , commonly referred to as the weasel family, are a family of carnivorous mammals. Mustelids are diverse and the largest family in the order Carnivora, at least partly because in the past it has been a catch-all category for many early or poorly differentiated taxa...
s 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
carrionCarrion refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters include vultures, hawks, eagles, hyenas, Virginia Opossum, Tasmanian Devils, coyotes, Komodo dragons, and burying beetles...
. They have also been known to eat
berriesThe botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....
, bird's eggs, meat, nuts and
honeyHoney is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
. European Pine Martens are
territorialIn ethology the term territory refers to any sociographical area that an animal of a particular species consistently defends against conspecifics...
animals that mark their range by depositing faeces (called 'scats') in prominent locations.
Martens have been known to chew rubber and soft plastic parts (e.g. windscreen wipers, garden hoses, etc.), often those of parked cars, ostensibly to sharpen/clean their teeth, though the exact drive for this behaviour is not known, and they do not actually ingest the rubber; damage to brake cables is a particular hazard. In rural areas it is not uncommon for wire fencing (chicken wire) to be placed on the ground under parked cars (Martens avoid stepping on it) or dog musk or other natural repellents to be sprayed under cars.
Threats to the species
Although they are preyed upon occasionally by
Golden EagleThe Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more heavily populated areas...
s and by
red foxThe red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
es, humans are the largest threat to Pine Martens. Persecution (illegal poisoning and shooting) by
gamekeeperA gamekeeper is a person who manages an area of countryside to make sure there is enough game for shooting, or fish for angling, and who actively manages areas of woodland, moorland, waterway or farmland for the benefit of game birds, deer, fish and wildlife in general.Typically, a gamekeeper is...
s, and loss of habitat leading to fragmentation, and human disturbance, have caused a considerable decline in the Pine Marten population. They are also prized for their very fine fur in some areas. In the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, European Pine Martens and their dens are offered full protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) and the Environmental Protection Act.
In Great Britain, the species is only at all common in northwestern
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, where some individuals have lost their fear of man and come to take food provided for them, particularly enjoying jam and peanut butter. In
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Pine Martens are extremely rare, and long considered probably extinct. A scat found at Kidland Forest in Northumberland in June 2010 may represent either a recolonisation from Scotland, or a relict population that has escaped notice previously.
As predator
Recently (December, 2007) the European Pine Marten was credited with reducing the population of the invasive
Grey SquirrelThe eastern gray squirrel is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus native to the eastern and midwestern United States, and to the southerly portions of the eastern provinces of Canada...
in the UK. Where the range of the expanding European Pine Marten population meets that of the Grey Squirrel, the population of the squirrels quickly retreats. It is theorised that because the Grey Squirrel spends more time on the ground than the
Red SquirrelThe red squirrel or Eurasian red squirrel is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus common throughout Eurasia...
, they are far more likely to come in contact with this predator.
Lifespan
The European 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 7 month-long
gestationGestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....
period in litters of one to five. Young European 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.