- A marten's lifespan can be up to 18 years in captivity, but in the
wild, their average lifespan is about 8-9 years.
- Marten mainly inhabit Older Forests (>60 years) in eastern and
Western Newfoundland
- The marten is nocturnal, though often active in the day as well.
- Main prey include meadow voles, snowshoe hare, red squirrels and moose
carrion.
- The major problems contributing to the decline in marten numbers are
habitat loss from large scale wood harvesting, and accidental deaths
from wire snares and traps set for other anim
- The marten is a small, housecat-sized predator with brown fur, an
orange chest, black legs, and a greyish face.
- Weighing between one and five pounds, martens have the elongate shape,
slender torso, short legs, and fox-like snout of the weasel, to which
they are related. In fact, the marten, fisher, and wolverine are all
members of the weasel family.
- Martens are very much at home in the high branches, and they sometimes
do chase down a squirrel in a tree.
- Martens spend most of their time on the ground, exploring territories
as big as four square miles. In the winter, they spend much of their
time beneath the snow's surface, resting, staying warm, and hunting
for voles.
- Martens eat so many voles year-round that these small mice-like mammals
may make up the largest part of their diet.
- A marten feeds itself by being endlessly alert, inquisitive, and
exploratory; fully engaged by the world in which it lives
- The marten is narrow because it hunts in an environment of tight
squeezes where the skinnier it is, the more places it can go
- The combination of shape, low body fat, and lack of a warm coat means
that martens need habitats where they can find a place to stay warm
and find food often.
- The marten's two of its closest friends are the vole, who in its
death provides food for the marten, and the tree, which, in its death,
will provide the marten with access to more voles, a way to escape from
other predators, and a haven from the cold
- Like other small animals, martens are lightning quick, and often
seem to be in constant motion.
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