Credit: iStock.com/SeventhDayPhotography
Name
- Common name: American Marten
- Scientific name: Martes americana
- Order: Carnivora
- Family: Mustelidae
- Indigenous names for this species may be available through the Yukon Native Language Centre.
Also known as
Pine Marten, Marten
Viewing opportunities
- Martens are furtive and secretive and leave few signs of their presence. You might catch a glimpse of one stealing from your campsite.
- Daybreak and twilight hours are best for marten viewing where you might see them hunting voles in a meadow or mature spruce forest.
- The best time of year to look for marten is in the late fall and early winter when juveniles disperse.
Description
- Sharp, pale face, stand-up ears, black whiskers.
- Long weasel body and long bushy tail.
- Pale buff to dark brown fur with a patch of orange at the throat.
- Large furry feet, semi-retractable claws.
Fast facts
- Length: 50 cm
- Weight: 0.5 to 1.4 kg
- Lifespan: 10 years but they average 5 years
- Predators: Raptors, lynx, bears, wolves
- Habitat: Boreal Forest
Conservation status
- Yukon: S5 (Secure)
- Global: G5 (Secure)
Yukon population estimate
Not determined
Behaviour
Martens are solitary, except for mating season and while a mother is raising her young. They each have an approximately 5 square kilometre territory where they live and hunt. They are carnivores and do not store food for winter months so they are always searching for food. American Martens have limited body-fat reserves and lose body heat rapidly. They will frequently rest to conserve energy, tunnelling under the snow to a warm cavity in a hollow log or tree stump. To further conserve energy, they may even go into daily torpor, where they reduce their metabolism and body temperature and stop moving for a short period of time.
Diet
Voles, deer mice, squirrel, lemmings, shrews, birds, eggs, hare and carrion.
Distribution
Sights and sounds
Marten track, front: 5.3 x 5.0 cm.
Marten track, hind: 5.8 x 5.3 cm.
American Martens and people
- Marten skins were used to make fur robes for higher-class persons. "Wealth woman", a mythical figure known to the Tagish, Tutchone and Tlingit people, wore such a garment.
- One of the most cost-effective furbearing animals to trap. Because it is curious, the marten is also one of the easiest animals to trap. This makes it vulnerable to over-harvesting.
- The biggest effect on marten populations is loss of habitat from large forest fires and clear-cut logging.