Newfoundland Pine Marten
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Description of the Marten
The pine marten is a very small, and skinny creature. It has a slender body, a small head with a short, pointed muzzle, large, rounded ears and dark brown eyes. It has a tail that is half the length of its body. Its legs are very short, but the feet are large and furred complete with sharp claws which help the marten climb trees. The male can average in length of 50 to 63 cm, while the female averages 46 to 56 cm. the average weight of a male is 2.4 lb, while the female averages about 1.6 lb.
Habitat
The Marten commonly lives in the mature or mixed forest, with large evergreens and scattered birch and other trees. they prefer to live in thick dense areas of the forest, they usually avoid large openings or clearings. When they nest, they stay in hallow trees, stumps and logs. In its first year the marten will travel great distances, to find a place to call its own. If they find a good habitat with plenty of food, a female will cover 3 to 5 sq/km. While the male usually covers double what the female covers. The picture below shows where the Pine Marten inhabits parts of Newfoundland in 2001.
Diet
The Martens diet mainly consists of Meadow Vole. The Meadow Vole makes up about 80% of the Martens diet. Marten also can eat snowshoe hare, squirrel, birds eggs and forage bushes. In winter the Marten will hunt mammals that live underground.
Threats
Accidental Trapping is one many threats that are declining the population of the Pine Marten. When slips are put out for the snowshoe hare, the Pine Marten will get trapped in them and eventually perish. But now they have modified the hare trap so only the snowshoe hare gets trapped, not the Pine Marten.
Habitat loss is another threat that the Pine Marten is facing and losing. Their habitat has been lost due to human wreck-less-ness, of timber harvesting, agricultural development and road construction.
The other threat that any mammal has is Predation and disease. The main concern is if the population is low the disease could wipe out the while population in a particular area.
What Is Being Done
Well as of now researchers are trying to capture some Pine Marten, so they can try to put them in other areas to see if they can prosper. They try put chips on them. By doing this they can find out where the Pine Marten goes to and other important things such as reproduction. They are also trying to help some Marten, that have been injured or trapped. People can also can make donation to help teach others about what they can do to preserve the species. If you like more information on the Pine Marten click here.
