Stone marten
Description
Stone martens have the usual marten physique with an elongated, slender rump and relatively short limbs. The tail is relatively long and bushy. The second species of marten living in Central Europe, the pine marten, differs externally in the shape and colour of the throat patch.
In the stone marten, this is white and often forked and can extend to the forelegs, whereas in the pine marten it is yellowish and rounded. The fur of these animals is grey-brown in colour and rough.
Other differences to the pine marten are the pale nose and the hairless soles. The stone marten is also somewhat shorter, but heavier than its relative. The animals reach a head length of 40 to 54 cm, a tail length of 22 to 30 cm and a weight of 1.1 to 2.3 kg.
Habitat
As the only representative of the true martens, the stone marten is not a distinct forest dweller. It prefers open, bushy or tree-covered and often rocky terrain and can be found in mountains up to 4000 m above sea level. As a synanthropic animal, it is often seen in the vicinity of human settlements, where it stays in parks, barns or attics, which is why it is also called a roof marten or house marten.
The text is a translation of an excerpt from Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steinmarder). On wikipedia the text is available under a „Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike“ licence. Status: 02 September 2021
