The European Pine Marten (Martes martes) is one of the most common predator that can be seen in forests of Slitere National Park and Latvia. This almost half meter long animal weighting 0.8-2.2 kg has brow coat. In winter its thick undercoat makes coat look greyish. Throat patch colour varies from light yellow to bright orange. This small animal has very long fingers with sharp nails that help climb trees and walk across snow without going down. Males mostly remain on ground because they are heavier than females that are lighter and can easily jump from tree to tree. The European Pine Marten has very wide food range. In summer they usually feed on different insects, amphibians, small insectivores, mouse-like rodents, birds, berries and fruits. When there is a bad year for mouse-like rodents pine marten mostly feed on squirrels and birds. It really likes honey that pine marten seeks not only in bumblebee nest but also in bee-gardens. In winter mostly it live by carrion. Pine marten can eat about 100g meat at once. It has to eat as much as 1/5 of its own weight a day to survive, so it has to run around quite much to make that happen. Hunting area in winters is larger than 10km2, so if pine marten has had bad luck in hunt it has to run even 30km to have something to eat, so carrion is very important. When tummy is full pine marten goes to its lair to sleep. Lair usually is made under tree roots, tree stumps in hollows or squirrel nests. However, if the weather is nice enough ...

• published: 11 Jan 2011
• views: 1132
• author: SlitereNationalPark