Marten
Encyclopedia
The martens constitute the genus
Martes within the subfamily Mustelinae
, in family
Mustelidae
.
s, and are found in coniferous and northern deciduous forest
s across the northern hemisphere. They have bushy tails, and large paws with partially retractible claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on the species, and, in many cases, is valued by fur trappers.
s, mink
s, badger
s, ferret
s, and weasel
s. Their diet consists of squirrels, mice, rabbits, birds, fish, insects, and eggs, and they will also eat fruit and nuts when these are available.
"marten" comes from the Middle English
"martryn", in turn borrowed from the Anglo-French
"martrine" and Old French
"martre" (French
"martes"), itself from a Germanic
source, cf. Old English mearþ, Old Norse
mörðr, Old High German
and Yiddish mardar.
and Gulo, to form a new New World
clade
. The genus first evolved up to seven million years ago, during the Pliocene
.
, the Croatian Littoral
and Dalmatia
. The Croatian word for marten, kuna, is the name of the modern Croatian currency. A marten is depicted on the obverse
of the 1, 2 and 5 kuna
coins, minted since 1993, and on the reverse
of the 25 kuna commemorative coins
.
The Finnish communications company Nokia derives its name, via the river Nokianvirta, from a type of marten locally known as the nokia.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Martes within the subfamily Mustelinae
Mustelinae
Mustelinae is a polyphyletic subfamily of family Mustelidae and includes wolverines, weasels, ferrets, martens, minks, and similar carnivorous mammals of Order Carnivora.- Extant species of Mustelinae :Subfamily Mustelinae*Genus Arctonyx...
, in family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Mustelidae
Mustelidae
Mustelidae , 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...
.
Description
Martens are slender, agile animals, adapted to living in taigaTaiga
Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods...
s, and are found in coniferous and northern deciduous forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s across the northern hemisphere. They have bushy tails, and large paws with partially retractible claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on the species, and, in many cases, is valued by fur trappers.
Diet
Martens are omnivorous animals related to wolverineWolverine
The 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...
s, mink
Mink
There 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...
s, badger
Badger
Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies : Melinae , Mellivorinae , and Taxideinae...
s, ferret
Ferret
The ferret is a domesticated mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur...
s, and weasel
Weasel
Weasels are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs....
s. Their diet consists of squirrels, mice, rabbits, birds, fish, insects, and eggs, and they will also eat fruit and nuts when these are available.
Behavior
Martens are solitary animals, meeting only to breed in late spring or early summer. Litters of up to five blind and nearly hairless kits are born in early Spring. They are weaned after around two months, and leave the mother to fend for themselves at about three to four months of age.Etymology
The Modern EnglishModern English
Modern English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift in England, completed in roughly 1550.Despite some differences in vocabulary, texts from the early 17th century, such as the works of William Shakespeare and the King James Bible, are considered to be in Modern...
"marten" comes from the Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
"martryn", in turn borrowed from the Anglo-French
Anglo-Norman language
Anglo-Norman is the name traditionally given to the kind of Old Norman used in England and to some extent elsewhere in the British Isles during the Anglo-Norman period....
"martrine" and Old French
Old French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
"martre" (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
"martes"), itself from a Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
source, cf. Old English mearþ, Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
mörðr, Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
and Yiddish mardar.
Species
Recent DNA research has shown that the genus Martes is in fact polyphyletic, placing Martes pennanti and Martes americana outside the genus and allying it with EiraTayra
The tayra , also known as the Tolomuco or Perico ligero in Central America, and San Hol or viejo de monte in the Yucatan Peninsula is an omnivorous animal from the weasel family Mustelidae. It is the only species in the genus Eira...
and Gulo, to form a new New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
. The genus first evolved up to seven million years ago, during the Pliocene
Pliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
.
- American MartenAmerican MartenThe American marten is a North American member of the family Mustelidae, sometimes referred to as the pine marten. The name "pine marten" is derived from the common but distinct Eurasian species of Martes...
Martes americana- Newfoundland Pine MartenNewfoundland Pine MartenThe Newfoundland Pine Marten is a genetically distinct subspecies of the American Marten found only on the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada; it is sometimes referred to as the American Marten and is one of only 14 species native to the island...
Martes americana atrata
- Newfoundland Pine Marten
- Yellow-throated Marten Martes flavigula
- Beech MartenBeech MartenThe beech marten , also known as the stone marten or white breasted marten, is a species of marten native to much of Europe and Central Asia, though it has established a feral population in North America. It is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN on account of its wide distribution, its large...
Martes foina - Nilgiri Marten Martes gwatkinsii
- Pine MartenPine MartenThe European Pine Marten , 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 Europe belonging to the mustelid family, which also includes mink, otter, badger, wolverine and weasel. It...
Martes martes - Japanese Marten Martes melampus
- FisherFisher (animal)The fisher is a medium-size mammal native to North America. It is a member of the mustelid family, commonly referred to as the weasel family. The fisher is closely related to but larger than the American Marten...
Martes pennanti - SableSableThe sable is a species of marten which inhabits forest environments, primarily in Russia from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, in northern Mongolia and China and on Hokkaidō in Japan. Its range in the wild originally extended through European Russia to Poland and Scandinavia...
Martes zibellina
Cultural references
In the Middle Ages, marten pelts were highly valued goods used as a form of payment in SlavoniaSlavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
, the Croatian Littoral
Croatian Littoral
The Croatian Littoral is a geographical term that refers to the narrow coastal strip along the Adriatic Sea in Croatia extending from east the city Rijeka south to Karlobag...
and Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
. The Croatian word for marten, kuna, is the name of the modern Croatian currency. A marten is depicted on the obverse
Obverse and reverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags , seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse...
of the 1, 2 and 5 kuna
Croatian kuna
The kuna is the currency of Croatia since 1994 . It is subdivided into 100 lipa. The kuna is issued by the Croatian National Bank and the coins are minted by the Croatian Monetary Institute....
coins, minted since 1993, and on the reverse
Obverse and reverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags , seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse...
of the 25 kuna commemorative coins
Commemorative coins of the Croatian kuna
Commemorative coins of the Croatian kuna have been issued since 1994....
.
The Finnish communications company Nokia derives its name, via the river Nokianvirta, from a type of marten locally known as the nokia.