Yellow-throated marten

Animals in Asia

Yellow-throated marten

The yellow-throated marten, also called the Himalayan marten, is a medium-sized carnivore that belongs to the Martes family.

It is the orange-yellow fur on the neck and chest that has given this marten its name.

The yellow-throated marten is 50-71.9 cm long and weighs 1.2-5.7 kg. The ears are round and sit so low that the tip of the ears is on a level with the wide, flat skull. The paws have foot pads and very sharp claws. It lives in tropical and subtropical forest areas in most of Asia, and at altitudes up to 3,000 meters.

Along with the Nilgiri marten (Matres gwatkinsii), the yellow-throated marten is the only species of martens found in tropical and subtropical forest areas and in areas around the Himalayas, Southeast and East Asia, Eastern Russia and Korea. The yellow-throated marten spends most of the time in the trees and is a very skilled climber.

Unlike other martens, the yellow-throated marten lives often in small groups of 2-3 individuals, where they cooperate to hunt, thereby increasing their chance of catching prey. It goes hunting during the day and at night and prefers areas close to human habitation, where there are often many rodents such as mice and rats.

It is believed that the yellow-throated martens are monogamous. The mating can occur within two periods, February to March and / or June to August. However, females only get 2-5 youngsters once a year, which stay with their mother the first 2-3 months. Thanks to the good adaptability of the yellow-tailed marten, it is classified as not endangered by the IUCN. However the population is declining.