Pine marten

Description

The pine marten's fur is chestnut to dark brown in colour, the throat patch is yellowish brown and rounded downwards and not white and forked as in the stone marten. The winter coat is long and silky, in summer its fur is shorter and rougher. Like many martens, it has an elongated body with relatively short legs, the soles are very hairy. The tail is relatively long and bushy, it serves as a balance organ when climbing and jumping. The head is characterised by the triangular, yellow-rimmed ears, the nose is dark - unlike that of the stone marten. The snout-vent length of these animals is 45 to 58 cm, the tail is 16 to 28 cm long.

Its habitat is woodland, mainly deciduous and mixed woodland. Sometimes it can also be seen in large parks. In the mountains it can be found up to the tree line. Pine martens are tree dwellers to a greater extent than other representatives of the true martens. They are very good climbers and jumpers, and can climb up to four metres. When climbing, they are able to turn their feet 180 degrees. They build a number of nests in their territory, primarily in tree hollows, but sometimes also in abandoned squirrel cobs or birds of prey nests. They retreat to these resting places during the day and go in search of food at dusk and at night.

The text is a translation of an excerpt from Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baummarder). On wikipedia the text is available under „Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike“ licence. Status: 02 September 2021