You mean, technically, right. I think Google said ours are martes Americana. What is the difference?

Pine marten (Martes martes) are from the Europe and adjacent regions to the east.

Not just technically. Your marten are a separate species. Two species

I've posted about it, over the years, but I noticed that many people in the trapping community have a vague idea about marten varieties globally, so I guess we need an overview biology lesson. I'll steal some pictures from the internet to illustrate.


Martens (the genus Martes) are a part of the weasel family Mustelidae, and specifically, of the lineage called Guloninae. It also includes the wolverine (Gulo gulo), the fisher (Pekania pennanti), and the tayra (Eyra barbara), as well as a bunch of fossil species. This grouping is based on how closely they are all related genetically (and it is supported by morphology and fossil records), regardless of whether it's a product of evolution or adaptations of intelligent design, it's not the point
I won't go into detail about the genetic relationships between the species of martens now. Let's just assume they are all legit, although some are more closely related/genetically similar than others (the concept of "species" itself is disputable and blurry and it's best to accept that it's not absolute but just conventional, and to apply common sense. The rest is bureaucracy/philosophy/politics).


Currently, the genus Martes inlcudes 8 species, or 6 if you kick the big slender tropical "martens" out. The fisher also used to be considered amarten but now has a genus of its own, Pekania, fully deserved.



the pine marten (Martes martes) the type species of the genus. The baum marten is a synonym used in the fur industry. Not very variable and easy to recognize normally. Western populations seem to be a bit darker. I'll describe it in more detail in a separate post;




the sable (Martes zibellina), distributed from the Ural mountains to Japan in the east and Mongolia and China in the south. Very variable in color but recognizable. Also deserves a separate post;
this one is a typical Tobol sable from West Siberia

this one is from the Barguzinskiy nature reserve



the stone marten (Martes foina), a temperate to warm climate creature with snow-white undercoat and a u-shaped throat patch. There is a distinct separate population in the east (the Himalayas, China, probably Mongolia, and the Altai mountains, where it's very rare), which is different enough to be treated as a separate species.




the Japanese marten (Martes melampus), a species distributed on Hokkaido, Honshu and some southern islands. It's almost black with orange spots in the summer, but turns bright orange to almost white in the winter.




The variety on the southern islands is quite distinct and is probably also a good species, but there is very little information on them.







The Japanese marten shouldn't be confused with the Japanese sable, which is a pale-colored subspecies of the sable distributed on the Hokkaido, probably the same as the sable on the Kurils and the native sable of the Sakhalin islands. It's pretty amusing but many animals get pale in Japan, local species and subspecies. The wild boar, brown bears, badgers, the Japanese marten, the Japanese sable are all cute and yellow.






the American marten (Martes americana), distributed on your continent from West to East. Also very variable, like the sable. Its facial expression is cuter than that of its Eurasian counterparts, sable always look angry and pine marten look drunk or mildly retarded.

took these pics from iNat, they're taken in Winnipeg







the Pacific marten (Martes caurina), with which I don't have any personal experience with, but supposedly it has different (coarser?) fur, smaller face with cute big eyes, wider skull (= more developed vestibular apparatus) and longer tail (and a bigger throat patch generally), i.e. overall more adapted to life spent jumping among tall trees, branches and sticky sap in the relatively mild, wet, temperate climate along the Pacific coast, and chasing squirrels;





Then there is also the yellow-throated marten (Martes flavigula) and the Nilgiri marten (Martes gwatkinsii) and possibly another undescribed form or two on the big islands in the Indian ocean, but I don't consider them true martens. They are genetically distinct and very different from the true martens, and are predominantly tropical in distribution, and most likely deserve a genus of their own (it will probably be named Flavigula).









just to add to the confusion:

these pictures don't show the fur quality well, I'll have to take pictures of skins, to show how different the fur quality is, in different species.

Pine Marten are found in Europe, Western Asia, Western Siberia, and I think Kazakhstan.

Exactly, and they are progressing eastwards very rapidly. A trapper from Kemerovo region to the east of me who traps in the Kuznetsk Alatau mountains posted a picture of what looks like a pure marten a few weeks ago, he had never even seen them before. They are also moving south, and in the past 2-3 years, sable trappers have been catching marten and hybrids near the Belukha mountain already. Game wardens in my region and in the Altaiskiy Kray are worried about the negative impact of marten on grouse, hares and roe deer, plus they are deinitely killing off smaller mustelids. We did not even have them a few years ago and now their tracks are the most common predator tracks in many places, including biotopes which are NOT supposed to have any marten or sable, according to oldschool experts - rather open areas with no conifers whatsoever.

this is what productive marten bush looks like here. Pictures from this week/today.

Thank you to all who have contributed to this thread it's very interesting and enjoyable to see and learn about all the various differences of these species .

Yes Sharon , I totally agree with you that Jack would of enjoyed this a great deal !

I look forward to reading and learning more thank you all in advance !

Because of the Barguzin sable, exactly 109 YEARS AGO, on January 11, 1917 (i.e. December 29, 1916, old style), the BARGUZIN NATURE RESERVE WAS CREATED.

Great photos and descriptions, Tatiana. We seem to have the same humor with our descriptions of marten facial expressions -angry, drunk or mildly retarded . I see a lot of things in that same way

Years ago, in a lovely discussion with Jack , we were on one of many subjects about his studies of martens. I'm so glad I saved this one. At the time, I was trying to understand his findings with them. Listening to him discuss this and other "official related" subjects in a circle of fellow biologists , trappers and scientists at a get-together at his place, I was transfixed in the things they shared.

I thought this share, from Jack, would be very welcomed in this neat discussion.

I was transfixed in learning more about his description of the Yellow Throated Marten. Bedsides their very different physique, what I'd love to see in videos are their behavior as a pack animal , even hunting deer. That would be a force to deal with carefully as a human found on the trail by a group of them, I would imagine...

Thank you for your info and photos, Tatiana. Besides wolverine, all martens have been a favorite of mine in art and knowledge.

Below : part of Jack's discussion with me.

and it was the first nature reserve to be established in Russia, which marked the beginning of nature conservation as such in our country.
There is a nature photographer based in the Barguzinskiy nature reserve, Artur Murzakhanov. You can explore his photos on his livejournal page, a lot of them are of the Barguzin sable.

https://artur-murzahan.livejournal.com/

Speaking of the pine marten expansion,


https://snowmobile.ru/forum/index.php?threads/171501/page-78#post-6969414

I figured I'd add a link to this post of an "invasive"/newcomer pine marten in what's Kuznetsk sable country. The Kuznetsk sable is a distinct local variety of the Yenisei/Sayan subspecies (distributed across Central Siberia, roughly along the Yenisei river basin). It is treated as a separate subspecies sometimes, that tends to be more vividly yellow and light than most other subspecies/forms (not this particular individual though), and has a bigger heart than average, because it inhabits relatively high elevations despite some variability due to the reintroduction programs (those programs favored dark, silky-furred individuals from around the lake Baikal and the Barguzin river in particular for most areas, and from the river Vitim, for colder climates).

I took the liberty to copy these pictures here (originally posted by the user Sdelano Rukami) so that they don't get lost, because the sable trapping thread on that snowmobile forum has gotten deleted several times already due to greenies reporting "inhumane" posts with legholds to moderators Note that that trapper used the same sable boards for both skins, the difference is all due the different tail length, guard hair length, and fur structure (note the hysterical loooong hair on the skirt, a trademark pine marten feature).



typical pine marten fur without the more distinct zones and darker guard hair tips of the sable fur, and guard hair appear "hollow" with irregular dull white sheen, like hair badly burnt with peroxide, while sable guard hair is more shiny, almost brilliant-reflective in some varieties and individuals (look at the photo of the Barguzin sable in my post above, it's actually pretty dark, just insanely glossy).




I'll add my own sable/marten pictures later, after I explain the differences and the ramifications of hybridization

Sharon sez: "We seem to have the same humor with our descriptions of marten facial expressions -angry, drunk or mildly retarded."

Oh, you are talking about marten/sable?

I thought you were describing most of us people on T-man...!

Pete