What does marten eat? What does marten eat in natural conditions?

A very beautiful and graceful animal is a marten of wood, but at the same time it is a bloodthirsty, dexterous and powerful predator. Thanks to its sharp claws, perfectly developed teeth and lightning movements, the animal easily catches protein, extracts in the night darkness of a hare and a wood grouse, hazel grouse and black grouse.

Kunitsa is a predator, preferring to dwell in the upper tier of the forest. For her residence, she chooses dark littered spruce forests, in which there is an admixture of aspen.

Hunting places

The marten very rarely descends from the trees to the ground. Hunt and live she prefers in the upper forest tier. However, despite this, her movements on earth are also quick and free. The animal can very quickly run from one tree trunk to another.

Kunitsa is a very clever and incredibly smart predator. She has a flexible, thin body and a small, flat skull. Zverek effortlessly penetrates into the narrow crevices between the trunks of trees, into the hollows.

When a predator prefers 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 differentiate their tracks. They believe that nocturnal movements could be performed only by marten. In this case, the traces left by the day belong to the sable. However, there are exceptions. Thus, female martens in those periods when they feed young animals, often go out hunting in the afternoon. With the onset of winter, if the food is abundant, a predator can rarely be found outside its cozy shelter. In snowstorms and winter frost marten prefers to sit in a cozy nest for several days.

Hunting behavior of predator is very similar to sable. Depending on the amount of food in the place of their habitat, the animal can pass for a day from one to twenty kilometers. Especially long hunting routes the marten works in the countryside, located in the northern areas of the forest zone. The diurnal path of the predator is a multiple alternation of loops that lead from one zone of probable finding of food to another. After the predator is fully satisfied, he lies on vacation near the place of his feast. In this case, the animal can hide under a deck or fallen tree, and also climb into the nearest hollow of a bird or squirrel.

The basis of food ration

What does marten eat in its habitat? The main food in her diet is the voles. Predator eats them not only in a warm period. The farmer catches pets in the winter. And in the winter diet of a predator, their number decreases only by insignificant interest. This is evidence of the fact that even a meter-thick snow cover is not a serious obstacle for a marten in the pursuit of its victims. In those years when there are especially many voles, the forest predator is most plump. At the same time, its daily range is reduced to a minimum.

Second place in the diet

What does marten eat with insufficient number of voles in its habitats? In such periods, she begins to hunt for grouse birds. Thus, the ptarmigan, black grouse and hazel grouse occupy the second place in the nutrition of the animal. And here the predator has its own preferences. In this group the predominant role is played by hazel grouse. On him marten hunts in more than fifty percent of cases. There is an explanation for this. The matter is that the hazel grouse lives, as a rule, in a dark-coniferous taiga. The same place is chosen for his residence and marten.

Interestingly, the grouse in the summer diet of predators are rare. In the winter, they make up almost twenty-five percent, because in the cold season they spend most of the day in the snow. In this case, their hearing and vision are significantly reduced. Under such conditions, it becomes much easier to catch them.

Proteins as prey

What does marten eat yet? The third place in her winter diet is taken by proteins. But in the summer menu they are in last place. The predator pursues a red animal, jumping after him quickly along the branches of trees. If necessary, the persecution continues on the ground. The marten eats squirrels, catching them off by night in hollows or arranged nests. At this time, attacks are not expected from rodents.

If the food of the marten is evaluated in different years, then one interesting regularity will certainly be revealed. It concerns the diet. In the event that one or several types of food are missing, the predator updates its diet. Thus, with insufficient number of voles the marten begins to feed on grouse birds, as well as proteins. This suggests a logical conclusion that marten is an adaptable predator. Zverek does not specialize in any one kind of victim. However, he prefers only the food that is currently most available. If a large number of voles are bred in a certain year, the predator will feed on them. If there are a lot of grouse, then they will form the basis of his diet.

How many martens can eat protein throughout the year?

To answer this question, a small calculation will be required. Forest marten feeds on one squirrel for two days. Thus, over the entire winter period, a predator can eat up to ninety redheaded animals. However, one should know with certainty what the marten feeds in the forest in order to make the correct calculations.

In the diet of marten protein is only 19.7 percent. Consequently, in the winter it eats no more than eighteen rodents. In the summer, this percentage is significantly reduced. In the warm period in the diet of a predator, the proteins occupy one of the last places, which is 3.8 percent (three individuals). These calculations allow us to draw unequivocal conclusions. One marten can eat twenty-one squirrels a year.

However, here there are some nuances. On average, the weight of the stomach contents 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, marten in nature is often either partially or completely starving. From this it can be concluded that the earlier calculations must be adjusted downward. The marten can eat not twenty one, but seven to ten squirrels a year.

Plant food

What does marten eat in summer in addition to animal food? For a wild animal in a warm season, most of the diet can consist of plant foods. Kunitsa prefers to eat all kinds of fruits, berries, mushrooms and nuts. And in the predator menu, plant food is not only in the period of its ripening. In winter the animal can find berries of cowberry or blueberries under the snow. As for the mountain ash, the marten feeds it directly from the branches.

Sweet treat

What does marten eat? Zverek loves honey very much. The hollow in which wild bees live, the predator visits until they completely eat all the stocks. Near the tree where the hibernating bee family was discovered by the marten, you can see in the snow pieces of honeycomb and even the frozen striped toilers themselves. Of course, not every marten finds honey. That's why he is nothing more than an accidental prey.

If in summer the forest marten destroys nests built by earthen bees or wasps, then as a special delicacy it eats with insatiable greed insect larvae.

Who else does the marten include in his diet?

Depending on where the animal is located, its menu can consist of a variety of warm-blooded animals, including various birds and mammals. Who does marten eat? It very successfully hunts small rodents, for example, chipmunks, marmots and ground squirrels. Without difficulty, she can catch a hare.

What does marten eat near the pond? Its prey are nutria and muskrats, as well as water rats. When feeding, the marten can walk on the mink's trail, picking up the frogs abandoned by her.

In the hollows of trees, the predator produces small birds - tits, nuthatches and woodpeckers. In the hungry period the marten is indiscriminate in food. With a small number of voles, it eats shrews. In the usual time of these rodents, she prefers to bypass because of their unpleasant smell.

In protein nutrition predator makes variety, extracting large insects. They can become locusts or dragonflies.

The marten is very brave. There are data that a predator can attack young roe deer. However, these cases are very rare.

When food becomes scarce in the forest, the marten can approach the human habitation. On its farmsteads, it attacks pigeons and chicken coops. And when the birds begin to panic, the animal is awakened by a predatory reflex. He forces to kill prey even in the case when its quantity far exceeds the volume that marten can consume for food. In the orchards, the predator steals pears, plums and ripe cherries. On the beds, he can enjoy melons and gourds .

In a hungry period, the animal often digs in garbage containers and drags dried fruits from the attics of houses. In winter, the marten hunts urban mice and rats. Predator easily penetrates into heat networks and cellars. He has a wonderful memory and ability to navigate in difficult situations.

Diet of home marten

Cultivation of a predator in captivity requires the creation of certain nutritional conditions. Domestic martens should receive meat products. They should be at least seventy percent in the diet of the animal. As a protein food predator can be given horse meat and beef, meat by-products and liver, fish, etc.

In the feed mixture should be present milk and low-fat cottage cheese, potatoes and apples, mixed fodder and a variety of vitamin supplements. In total, the menu should have eight to ten components.