Marten
Martens are slender, agile carnivores of the weasel family, and two species share Europe and western Asia: the pine marten (Martes martes) and the stone marten (Martes foina), also called the beech marten. Both are built for climbing, with long bodies, short legs, sharp semi retractile claws and a long bushy tail for balance. Pine martens favor dense, mature woodland, while stone martens tolerate rocky ground, open farmland and even towns, where they often sleep in attics and climb into car engines. The throat patch is the easiest way to tell them apart: creamy yellow to orange and rounded in the pine marten, white and usually forked toward the front legs in the stone marten. They hunt mainly at night, taking rodents, birds, eggs and insects, and they eat a lot of berries and fruit from late summer on. By controlling rodent numbers and scattering seeds, they quietly support the ecosystems they move through. Both species are listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, with stable populations.
What is a marten? Pine martens, stone martens and other types
A marten is a slender, tree climbing carnivore of the genus Martes, part of the weasel family (Mustelidae), the same family as weasels, stoats, otters, badgers and wolverines. So yes, a marten is a kind of weasel in the broad sense, but it is bigger, more at home in trees and closer in size to a small house cat, with a long bushy tail, rounded ears and a pale bib on the throat. This page covers the two martens of Europe and western Asia. The pine marten (Martes martes) is also called the European pine marten or tree marten. The stone marten (Martes foina) is also known as the beech marten, and in parts of Europe as the house marten, because it lives so close to people. Depending on the authority, the genus holds seven or eight species, since some scientists split the Pacific marten from the American marten. The rest are the sable of Siberia, the Japanese marten, the yellow throated marten of southern and eastern Asia, which many people call the yellow marten, and the Nilgiri marten of southern India. The fisher of North America was long counted as a marten too, but genetic studies moved it to a genus of its own, Pekania.
Pine marten vs stone marten: how to tell them apart
The two European martens look alike at first glance, and across much of the continent they live side by side, so the details matter. The bib is the best clue. A pine marten has a creamy yellow to orange throat patch that ends in a rounded point on the chest. A stone marten has a pure white bib that usually splits into two branches running down onto the front legs, as in the first and third photos on this page; the second photo shows a pine marten. The nose helps too: dark brown or black in the pine marten, paler and often pinkish in the stone marten. Pine martens also have larger ears with pale edges, slightly longer legs and, in winter, soles covered in fur, which helps on snow. Habitat is a useful hint but not proof. Pine martens stick mostly to woodland and rarely come close to buildings, while stone martens are happy on rocky ground, in farmland, villages and city suburbs, where they often sleep in attics and barns. In Ireland, Britain, Norway, Sweden and Finland only the pine marten lives in the wild, so any marten seen there is that species. Across most of Asia, from Israel to Mongolia, it is the other way around and only the stone marten occurs.
Where do martens live?
Between them, the two species cover most of Europe and a long belt of Asia. The pine marten lives from Ireland, Britain and Scandinavia east through the forests of Russia into western Siberia, and south to Spain, Italy, the Balkans, Turkey, the Caucasus and northern Iran. It is also found on Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica, and on Mallorca and Menorca, where the IUCN considers it introduced by people long ago. The stone marten is absent from Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia but reaches much farther south and east. It lives across the Iberian Peninsula, mainland Italy (but not Sardinia or Sicily), the Balkans and Greek islands such as Crete, and then through Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Iran into Central Asia, the Himalayas, western China and Mongolia. The two also choose different homes. Pine martens need mature woodland with old trees, fallen logs and dense cover, and the IUCN records them up to about 2,300 meters. Stone martens are generalists of rocky slopes, scrub, farmland, villages and towns, and in the Himalayas they climb to about 4,200 meters. Where both live, the pine marten usually holds the forest and the stone marten the open and built up land around it.
How big is a marten? Size, weight and fur
Martens are about the size of a small house cat, but longer, lower and much lighter. A pine marten measures roughly 45 to 58 centimeters from nose to the base of the tail, with a bushy tail of 16 to 28 centimeters, and adults usually weigh 0.8 to 2.2 kilograms. The stone marten is very similar: 40 to 54 centimeters of head and body, a tail of about 22 to 30 centimeters and a weight of 1.1 to 2.3 kilograms. In both species males are clearly bigger than females, often by around a third. The fur is chocolate brown to dark brown, thicker and silkier in winter, with darker legs and tail and a pale bib on the throat and chest. The pine marten has the softer, glossier coat, which made its pelt one of the most valued furs in medieval Europe, while the stone marten's fur is coarser and grayer underneath. Both have long bodies, short legs and sharp semi retractile claws that make them excellent climbers, and a long tail that works as a counterweight when they run along branches or jump between trees. Their eyes are large and dark, suited to moving at night, and their rounded ears stand up clearly from the head.
What do martens eat?
Martens are opportunists that eat whatever is easiest to find in each season. Small rodents, especially voles and wood mice, are the base of the diet for most of the year. On top of that they take birds and their eggs, rabbits, squirrels, frogs, beetles, wasp grubs, earthworms and carrion, and stone martens living near people also raid henhouses, pigeon lofts and garbage. Fruit is a big part of the menu from late summer into winter: rowan berries, bilberries, blackberries, cherries, figs and grapes, plus honey when they break into a wild bees' nest. In Mediterranean areas fruit can become their main food in autumn. Seeds pass through the gut intact and are dropped far from the parent plant, so martens work as seed dispersers. The pine marten has become famous in Ireland and Scotland because studies there found that grey squirrels decline where martens recover. The grey squirrel, introduced from North America, spends more time on the ground and is heavier and easier to catch, while the native red squirrel, which evolved alongside the marten, is lighter and better at escaping through thin branches. Where pine martens return, red squirrels often come back too.
How do martens live? Territory, mating and kits
Martens are solitary and mostly active at night or around dawn and dusk, although pine martens are often out in daylight in summer, when nights are short. Each adult holds a home range that it marks with scent from glands under the tail, on the belly and on the feet, and with droppings left in prominent spots such as tracks, rocks and logs. The ranges of males are larger than those of females and often overlap several of them. By day, pine martens rest in tree holes, old squirrel nests, bird nests and rock piles, while stone martens use rock crevices, barns, haylofts and attics. Mating happens in summer, mostly between June and August, and here both species share an unusual trick: the fertilized egg stays dormant in the womb for several months before it implants, so the whole pregnancy lasts around eight to nine months even though the embryo only grows for about a month. The kits, usually two to four, are born blind and nearly hairless in March or April. They leave the den at around two months old, become independent by late summer or autumn and usually breed for the first time in their second or third year.
Are martens dangerous? Cars, attics and chickens
Martens are not dangerous to people. They are shy, avoid contact and, like any wild animal, will only bite if they are cornered or handled. Their real impact is on property, and nearly all of it comes from the stone marten. In Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and nearby countries, stone martens climb into the engine bays of parked cars, probably because they are warm and sheltered, and bite through ignition cables, coolant hoses and insulation. The damage gets worse when a marten smells another marten's scent in the engine and attacks the parts that carry it. German insurers have reported more than 100 million euros of marten bites to car cables and hoses in a single year, and one repair can easily cost several hundred euros. Owners use ultrasound devices, electric shock plates and wire mesh under the engine. In houses, stone martens nest in attics, where they make noise at night, leave droppings and damage insulation. Both species may kill chickens if a coop is left open at night. On the positive side, martens eat large numbers of rats and mice around farms. They were also trapped heavily for their fur for centuries, and in Croatia the marten pelt gave its name to the old currency, the kuna, which means marten in Croatian.
Pine martens in Britain and Ireland: the comeback
By the early 1900s, trapping for fur, gamekeeping and the loss of woodland had wiped the pine marten out of most of Britain and Ireland. In Britain it held on mainly in the northwest Highlands of Scotland, with tiny remnants in northern England and Wales, and in Ireland it survived in a few pockets, mostly in the west. Legal protection changed the story. In Scotland, a survey based estimate from around 2013 put the population at roughly 2,600 to 3,500 adults, and the species has kept spreading south since then. In Ireland, the 2019 national survey found pine martens across much of the island again, and research there and in Scotland linked their return to falling grey squirrel numbers and recovering red squirrels. England and Wales needed help. The Vincent Wildlife Trust moved pine martens from Scotland to mid Wales between 2015 and 2017, and more were released in the Forest of Dean from 2019, on Dartmoor in 2024 and on Exmoor in 2025, when 19 animals were set free. England still has only a small population, so pine martens there remain a rare sight. Most people who want to see one go to wildlife hides in Scotland or Ireland that put out food at dusk.
Are martens endangered?
No. Both species are listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, in assessments carried out in 2015 and published in 2016, and the IUCN describes both populations as stable. Neither has a global head count, because they are hard to survey, but they live across huge areas, from Portugal to Siberia in the case of the pine marten and from Spain to Mongolia in the case of the stone marten. The IUCN has marked both assessments as needing an update. The picture is less comfortable at a local level. The pine marten is still scarce in England and in parts of Italy, where some researchers think competition with the more adaptable stone marten keeps it in decline. Road traffic is a leading cause of death in western Europe, especially for young animals looking for a territory of their own, and the fragmentation of forests keeps populations apart. Legal trapping for fur continues in Russia, Finland and some other countries, and illegal killing still happens where martens take game birds or poultry. In Asia, stone marten skins are traded illegally: in Ladakh, in northern India, researchers have reported hundreds of pelts being smuggled out every year. Protecting old forests, building wildlife crossings over roads and putting up nest boxes are among the measures that help.
Where it is found
The Marten can be found in places such as:
