Brad Preston, age 12, of DeKalb, Ill., N.J., for his question:
WHERE DOES THE MARTEN LIVE?
A marten is a valuable fur animal that is found living throughout the northern hemisphere. Included in the family is the American marten, the European pine marten, the Russian sable, the fishers of North America, the stone or beech marten of Europe, the Japanese marten and the Asiatic yellow throated marten.
The American marten, the European pine marten and the Russian sable are each about two and one half feet long including an eight inch tail. These animals vary in color from yellow brown to dark brown. A few are pure white, called albinos, and a few are pure black.
Martens are arboreal, which means they are tree living animals. They prefer old coniferous or pine trees, or mixed coniferous and hardwood forests.
Martens are carnivores, which means they are meat eaters. Their principal foods include rabbits, hares, squirrels and other rodents.
A marten's den is usually made in a hollow log or a hole in a tree. Two or three babies are usually born to the mother in March or April.
Sometimes the American marten is called the sabel. It lives in Alaska, south into the Rocky Mountains and east across northern Canada to the northeastern United States.
The pine marten lives from the British Isles across Europe and Russia to western Siberia, and south to Turkey and northern Iran.
The Russian sable once lived in profusion in the forests of Siberia and north to the Arctic Circle and south to Manchuria and Japan. The animal has been over hunted and is now protected by law.
The fisher is sometimes called the black car or Pennant's marten. It is larger than the American marten, having a body and tail length of three feet. Both the fisher and the marten live in the same regions and eat about the same food. The fisher's fur, however, is usually a darker shade than that of the marten.
The European stone or beech martin lives in just about the same places as the pine marten, but it cannot be found in the Brith Isles. It is also found in Syria, Israel and northern China.
This animal has a white throat patch.
The large, orange yellow patch on the throat and a yellow white tip on the tail is the mark of the Japanese marten. This animal also has a close relative living in Korea.
The yellow throated marten is found from India and China to the Island of Java. The very black head is in sharp contract to the animal's light olored throat. This animal's body and tail together measure about three and a half feet in length.
The martens are members of the weasel family.