The pine marten is a very beautiful and graceful animal, but at the same time it is a bloodthirsty, dexterous and strong predator. Thanks to its sharp claws, well-developed teeth and lightning-fast movements, the animal easily catches squirrels and catches hares and capercaillie, hazel grouse and black grouse in the night darkness.
The marten is a predator that prefers to inhabit the upper tier of the forest. For her stay, she chooses dark cluttered spruce forests, in which there is an admixture of aspen.
Hunting places
Marten very rarely descends from trees to the ground. She prefers to hunt and live in the upper forest layer. However, despite this, her movements on earth are just as fast and free. The animal is able to very quickly run from one tree trunk to another.
The marten is a very dexterous and incredibly nimble predator. She has a flexible thin body and a small, flat skull. The animal penetrates into the narrow crevices between tree trunks, into hollows without much effort.
When does a predator prefer to hunt?
Most often, the marten attacks its victims in the evening or at night. This feature is so characteristic of the described animal that in the places where it lives together with the sable, hunters easily distinguish their tracks. They believe that only marten could make night movements. Moreover, the traces left during the day belong to the sable. However, there are exceptions. So, female martens in those periods when young animals are fed, often go hunting in the afternoon. With the onset of winter, if the food is plentiful, a predator can rarely be found outside its cozy shelter. In snowstorms and winter frosts, the marten prefers to sit in a cozy nest for several days.
The hunting style of behavior of a predator is very similar to a sable. Depending on the amount of food in the place of its habitat, the animal can go from one to twenty kilometers per day. The marten lays especially long hunting routes in the crooked forest, located in the northern regions of the forest zone. The daily route of the predator is a multiple alternation of loops that lead from one zone of the likely location of food to another. After the predator is fully saturated, he lies down to rest near the place of his revel. In this case, the animal can hide under a deck or valine, as well as climb into the nearest hollow bird or squirrel.
Dietary basis
What does the marten eat in its habitat? The main food in her diet is voles. The predator eats them not only in the warm period. The animal also catches a vole in winter. Moreover, in the winter diet of a predator, their number decreases only by negligible interest. This testifies to the fact that even a meter thick snow cover is not a serious obstacle for a marten when pursuing its victims. In those years when there are especially many voles, the forest predator is the most well-fed. At the same time, its daily range is reduced to a minimum.
Second place in the diet
What does the marten eat when there are not enough voles in its habitats? In such periods, she begins to hunt for grouse birds. Thus, the white partridge, black grouse and hazel grouse occupy the second place in the diet of the animal. And here the predator has its own preferences. In this group, the hazel grouse predominates. The marten preys on him in more than fifty percent of cases. There is an explanation for this. The fact is that the hazel grouse lives, as a rule, in dark coniferous taiga. The marten chooses the same places for his residence.
It is interesting that grouse in the summer diet of a predator is quite rare. In winter, they make up almost twenty-five percent, because in the cold season they spend most of the day in the snow. Moreover, their hearing and vision are significantly reduced. In such conditions, it becomes much easier to catch them.
Proteins as prey
What does the marten eat yet? The third place in her winter diet is occupied by proteins. But in the summer menu they are in last place. The predator pursues the red-haired animal, nimbly jumping after him along the branches of trees. If necessary, the persecution continues on the ground. The marten eats squirrels, taking them by surprise at night in hollows or nests. At this time, rodents do not expect attacks.
If you evaluate the nutrition of the marten in different years, then one interesting pattern will certainly come to light. It concerns the diet. In the event that one or more types of food are missing, the predator updates its diet. So, with an insufficient number of voles, the marten begins to feed on grouse birds, as well as proteins. At the same time, a logical conclusion suggests itself that the marten is an adaptable predator. The animal does not specialize in any one type of victim. However, he prefers only the food that is currently most available. If in a certain year a large number of voles are bred, then the predator will feed on them. If there are many grouse, then they will form the basis of his diet.
How much can marten eat protein in a year?
To answer this question, you need to make a small calculation. The pine marten eats one squirrel for two days. Thus, for the entire winter period, a predator can eat up to ninety red animals. However, one should reliably know what the marten eats in the forest in order to make the correct calculations.
In the diet of marten, protein is only 19.7 percent. Therefore, in the winter she eats no more than eighteen rodents. In summer, this percentage decreases significantly. In the warm period, proteins occupy one of the last places in the diet of a predator, which is 3.8 percent (three individuals). These calculations allow us to make unambiguous conclusions. One marten can eat twenty one squirrel during a year.
However, here there are some nuances. On average, the weight of the contents of the stomach of the marten is not more than thirty grams. In addition, studies have shown that ten percent of the digestive tracts of predators are empty at the time of their examination. Consequently, the marten in nature is often either partially or completely starving. From this, it can be concluded that the previously obtained calculations should be adjusted downward. The marten is able to eat not twenty-one, but from seven to ten squirrels per year.
Plant food
What does the marten eat in summer besides animal food? For a forest animal in the warm season, most of the diet can consist of plant foods. The marten prefers to feast on all kinds of fruits, berries, mushrooms and nuts. Moreover, plant food is included in the predator's menu not only during its ripening period. In winter, the animal can find cranberries or blueberries under the snow. As for mountain ash, the marten eats it directly from the branches.
Sweet treat
What does a marten eat? The animal loves honey very much. The predator visits the hollow in which wild bees live until it has completely eaten all the stocks. Near the tree where the wintering bee family was discovered by the marten, you can see pieces of honeycombs and even frozen striped toilers themselves in the snow. Of course, not every marten finds honey. That is why it is nothing more than an accidental prey.
If in the summer period the pine marten ruins the nests built by earthen bees or wasps, then as a special delicacy it eats insect larvae with great greed.
What else does the marten include in its diet?
Depending on where the animal is located, its menu may consist of a variety of warm-blooded animals, including various birds and mammals. Whom does the marten eat? She very successfully hunts small rodents, for example, chipmunks, marmots and ground squirrels. Without difficulty, she can catch a hare.
What does a marten eat near a reservoir? Nutria and muskrats, as well as water rats, become its prey. With a feedless marten can follow the mink trail, picking up frogs thrown by it.
In the hollows of trees, the predator preys on small birds - tits, nuthatch and woodpeckers. In the hunger period, the marten is illegible in food. With a small number of voles, it eats shrews. In normal times, she prefers to circumvent these rodents because of their unpleasant odor.
The predator introduces diversity into protein nutrition, catching large insects. They can become locusts or dragonflies.
The marten is a very brave animal. There is evidence that a predator can attack roe deer cubs. However, these cases are very rare.
When food becomes scarce in the forest, the marten can approach a person’s housing. In his courtyards, she attacks pigeons and chicken coops. And when the birds begin to panic rush about, the predatory reflex awakens in the animal. It makes you kill prey even when its amount is much higher than the amount that the marten can eat. In orchards, a predator steals pears, plums and ripe cherries. On the beds, he can enjoy gourds and even carrots.
In the hunger period, the animal often delves into garbage containers and drags dried fruits from the attics of houses. In winter, the marten preys on city mice and rats. The predator easily penetrates heat networks and basements. He has an excellent memory and ability to navigate perfectly in difficult situations.
