European pine marten

Martes martes

Group: Predators & furbearers
Size class: Small (under 10 kg)
Family: Mustelidae

Range

Europe

Habitat

Boreal forest
Forest

Range

Countries it is found in

48 countries

Albania
Andorra
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czechia
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Italy
Kazakhstan

Range from:ASM Mammal Diversity Database, GBIF occurrence records — read 2026-08-05

Chapter 01

Overview

The European pine marten (Martes martes), also called baum marten or sweet marten, is a mustelid native to and widespread in most of Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus and parts of Iran, Iraq and Syria. The IUCN lists it as least concern.

Chapter 02

Identification

The fur is usually light to dark brown, short and coarse in summer and growing longer and silkier through winter, with a cream to yellow bib on the throat — the mark that separates it from the stone marten, whose bib is white. The body is up to 53 cm long with a bushy tail of about 25 cm, and it weighs around 1.5–1.7 kg, males slightly larger than females. Sight, smell and hearing are all excellent.

Chapter 03

Behaviour

The pine marten is the only mustelid with semi-retractable claws, which is what lets it live an arboreal life — climbing and running along branches — though it is also a relatively quick runner on the ground. It is mainly active at night and dusk. The ears are small, rounded and highly sensitive, and the teeth are sharp and adapted to small mammals, birds, insects, frogs and carrion; it also takes berries, fruit, birds' eggs, nuts and honey. It is territorial and marks its range with faeces — black and twisted, and distinctive enough to identify. The recovery of the pine marten in Ireland has been credited with reducing the population of invasive grey squirrels where the expanding marten range overlaps them.

Chapter 04

Hunting

The pine marten is one of the national symbols of Croatia and appears on the Croatian euro coins. It previously appeared on the obverse of the 1-, 2-, 5- and 25-kuna notes — kuna being the Croatian word for marten.

Field data

Tracks

A photograph of real sign left by European pine marten. Prints vary with gait, ground and how long they have been there — treat this as one example, not a template.

Track photo:Dan MacNeal CC BY

Sources

Sources: European pine marten — Wikipedia — read 2026-08-05

Cross-reference