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Yellow-throated marten Martes flavigula Boddaert, 1785

Distribution

It occurs in the foothills of Himalayas from north-west Pakistan at an altitude of 600-3500 m to Assam, through Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, West Bengal, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh (Pocock 1941, ZSI 1992, Ramakantha 1992a, Choudhury 1997 a,b, 1999, Silori & Badola 1999). It is also found in Nepal, Bhutan, upper Myanmar, Bangladesh, south China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea and eastern Siberia (Pocock 1941, Prater 1971, Wozencraft 1993).

Description

The yellow-throated marten is considerably bigger than the stone marten. Its tail and limbs are also proportionately longer. The tail is almost about three-fourths the length of head and body (Prater 1971). Unlike stone marten its tail is not bushy (Pocock 1941). It has very silvery blond lower flanks and hind quarters with the upper part of the face, neck, fore limbs and tail being almost jet black. The whole of the chest, throat, lower jaw and side of the neck are creamy white deepening to a rich canary yellow colour on the side of the neck. This yellow area contrasts sharply with the black fur on the upper parts of the neck. The lower flanks and hindquarter contain a mixture of darker grey and brown hair and there are a few reddish-brown guard hair mixed with darker parts of the body (Pocock 1941). The ears are low-set and rounded, the ear tips being at level with the broad flat skull. The rhinarium is naked and black and the iris dark brown. The fore and hind feet have naked pads with sharp claws. The head to body length varies between 400-600 mm and the tail length 380-430 mm (Prater 1971). They weigh up to 3.4 kg (Roberts 1977).

The subspecies of western Himalayas is M. flavigula flavigula Boddaert, 1785.

Behaviour

The yellow-throated marten is largely a forest dwelling species occurring in the temperate zone in association with Cedrus deodara and Quercus spp. At lower altitudes it is associated with tropical pine forests descending to tropical moist deciduous forests. The yellow-throated marten generally lives a solitary life except for the females with growing young ones, which remain in a family group for three or four months. It is partly diurnal, though it hunts at night when close to human habitations. It is an agile climber, spending much time in the upper stories of the forest. It is an omnivore. Its diet includes prey of all kinds of insects, birds and their eggs, lizards and amphibians, occasionally flying squirrel and other larger mammals such as musk deer or barking deer (Roberts 1977) and fruits such as apricots, berries and nectar. Roberts (1977) believes that it probably mates around August and gives birth in April. Like other martens, it is believed that the gestation period is around 120 days. Litter size is 2-5. The longest recorded life span in captivity was 14 years and six months (Jones 1968)

Conservation status

It is listed in Schedule II part II of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Appendix III of CITES and LR 1c during the CAMP workshop.

| Introduction | Mustelids | Viverrids | Herpestids | 
| Conservation Significance | References |