Yellow-throated marten

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Yellow-throated marten
Temporal range: Pliocene – Recent
Martes flavigula indochinensis in Kaeng Krachan National Park

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genus: Martes
Species:
M. flavigula
Binomial name
Martes flavigula
Boddaert, 1785
Subspecies

M. f. flavigula (Boddaert, 1785)
M. f. chrysospila (Pocock, 1936), Taiwan
M. f. robinsoni, Java

Yellow-throated marten range
Synonyms

Charronia flavigula (Boddaert)

The yellow-throated marten (Martes flavigula) is a marten species native to the Himalayas, Southeast and East Asia. Its coat is bright yellow-golden, and its head and back are distinctly darker, blending together black, white, golden-yellow and brown. It is the second-largest marten in the Old World, after the Nilgiri marten,[2] with its tail making up more than half its body length.

It is an

Least Concern on the IUCN Red List
due to its wide distribution, stable population, occurrence in a number of protected areas and an apparent lack of threats.

Characteristics

Fauna of British India

The yellow-throated marten has short bright brownish-yellow fur, a blackish brown pointed head, reddish cheeks, light brown chin and lower lips; the chest and lower part of the throat are orange-golden, and flanks and belly are bright yellowish. The back of the ears is black, the inner portions are yellowish gray. The front paws, lower forelimbs are black. The tail is black above with a grayish brown base and a lighter tip.[3] It is robust and muscular, has an elongated thorax, a long neck and a long tail, which is about 2/3 as long as its body. The limbs are relatively short and strong, with broad paws.[4] The ears are large and broad with rounded tips. The soles of the feet are covered with coarse, flexible hairs, though the digital and foot pads are naked and the paws are weakly furred.[3] The baculum is S-shaped, with four blunt processes occurring on the tip. It is larger than other Old World martens; males measure 500–719 mm (19.7–28.3 in) in body length, while females measure 500–620 mm (20–24 in). Males weigh 2.5–5.7 kg (5.5–12.6 lb), while females weigh 1.6–3.8 kg (3.5–8.4 lb).[5] The anal glands sport two unusual protuberances, which secrete a strong smelling liquid for defensive purposes.[6]

Distribution and habitat

Yellow-throated marten in Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve
Photographed in Tungnath
An individual in Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary

The yellow-throated marten occurs in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the

Korean Peninsula and eastern Russia. In the south, its range extends to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.[1]

In

Musk Deer National Park.[7]
In Nepal's Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, it has been recorded up to an elevation of 4,510 m (14,800 ft) in alpine meadow.[8]

In northeastern India, it has been reported in northern West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Assam. In Indonesia it occurs in Borneo, Sumatra, and Java.[9]

Behaviour and ecology

The yellow-throated marten holds extensive, but not permanent, home ranges. It actively patrols its territory, having been known to cover 10–20 km (6.2–12.4 mi) in a single day and night. It primarily hunts on the ground, but can climb trees proficiently, being capable of making jumps up to 8–9 m (26–30 ft) between branches. After March snowfalls, the yellow-throated marten restricts its activities to treetops.[10]

Diet

The yellow-throated marten is a

spotted deer, roe deer and goral.[12] Wild boar piglets are also taken on occasion. It has also been reported to trail tigers and feed on their kills.[13]
In China, it preys on giant panda cubs.[14]

It supplements its diet with nectar and fruit, and is therefore considered to be an important seed disperser.[15]

Reproduction

Estrus occurs twice a year, from mid-February to late March and from late June to early August. During these periods, the males fight each other for access to females. Litters typically consist of two or three kits and rarely four.[13]

Predators

The yellow-throated marten has few predators, but occasionally may fall foul of larger carnivores; remains of sporadic individuals have turned up in the scat or stomachs of Siberian tigers (Panthera tigris) and Asian black bears (Ursus thibetanus).[16][17] A mountain hawk-eagle (Nisaetus nipalensis) killed an adult yellow-throated marten.[18]

Conservation

The yellow-throated marten is listed as

Least Concern on the IUCN Red List due to its wide distribution and occurrence in protected areas across its range; the global population is stable, and threats are apparently lacking.[1]

Taxonomy

The first written description of the yellow-throated marten in the

Western World is given by Thomas Pennant in his History of Quadrupeds (1781), in which he named it "White-cheeked Weasel". Pieter Boddaert featured it in his Elenchus Animalium with the name Mustela flavigula. For a long period after the Elenchus' publication, the existence of the yellow-throated marten was considered doubtful by many zoologists, until a skin was presented to the Museum of the East India Company in 1824 by Thomas Hardwicke.[19]

As of 2005[update], nine subspecies are recognized.[20]

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T41649A45212973.en
    . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ Prater, S. H. (1971). The Book of Indian Animals (3rd ed.). Mumbai: Bombay National History Society.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ a b Heptner & Sludskii 2002, pp. 906–907
  4. ^ Heptner & Sludskii 2002, pp. 905–906
  5. ^ Heptner & Sludskii 2002, pp. 907–908
  6. ^ Pocock 1941, pp. 337
  7. doi:10.1007/s10344-016-1029-6
    .
  8. ^ Appel, A.; Khatiwada, A. P. (2014). "Yellow-throated Martens Martes flavigula in the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, Nepal". Small Carnivore Conservation. 50: 14–19.
  9. ISBN 978-0-387-22580-7
    .
  10. ^ Heptner & Sludskii 2002, pp. 917–918
  11. ^ a b Pocock 1941, pp. 336
  12. ^ a b Heptner & Sludskii 2002, pp. 915–916
  13. ^ a b Heptner & Sludskii 2002, pp. 919
  14. ISBN 2-8317-0462-6
    .
  15. S2CID 55387571
    .
  16. PMID 25939758
    .
  17. JSTOR 3873193. Archived
    from the original on 2023-04-21. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  18. ^ Fam, S. D.; Nijman, V. (2011). "Spizaetus hawk-eagles as predators of arboreal colobines". Primates. 52 (2): 105–110.
  19. ^ Horsfield, T. (1851). A catalogue of the Mammalia in the Museum of the East-India Company. London: J. & H. Cox. Archived from the original on 2023-04-08. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
  20. OCLC 62265494
    .
  21. ^ Pocock 1941, pp. 331–337
  22. ^ Heptner & Sludskii 2002, pp. 914
  23. ^ Pocock 1941, pp. 338
  24. ^ Pocock 1941, pp. 339

Bibliography

External links

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