Stone marten
Martes foina
Jessica Peruzzo · Provincia di Vicenza
Key facts in one look
- Size
- Body 38–59 cm, tail 23–32 cm
- Diet
- Omnivorous predator
- Status in Georgia
- Resident, stable
- Habitat
- Rocks, broadleaf forest, settlements
- Family
- Mustelidae
- Conservation
- LC / LC
The stone marten is the one marten that is not put off by living close to people. In the wild it favours rocky slopes, scree and broadleaf foothill forest; in villages and towns it lives in attics, cellars and barns. Within the former Soviet Union it was most numerous in the Caucasus and Transcaucasia. It looks very much like the pine marten, but its chest patch is pure white and split into two lobes below, and its nose is pale. If you find chewed hoses and cables in a car's engine bay, a stone marten may be the culprit.
Identification
Stone marten: how to identify it
A long, supple predator with short legs and a long, bushy tail. The fur is greyish brown, and the chest carries a large, pure white patch. The nose is pale, and the ears are short and set wide apart. It is most easily confused with the pine marten, so look closely at the shape of the bib.
Males measure 43–59 cm in head and body, females 38–47 cm, and the tail is 23–32 cm. Males weigh 1.7–2.1 kg and females 1.1–1.5 kg, a little more in summer than in winter. It is close in size to the pine marten, so size does not help to tell them apart.
The bib is almost always pure white. It is large and splits backwards into two lobes that reach the base of the forelegs and sometimes run down them, with a dark stripe of belly colour pushing up between them. The pine marten has it the other way round: its yellowish or orange bib runs back between the forelegs as a single tongue.
The nose is pale, pinkish or grey; the pine marten's is dark, almost black. The feet are less furry, and the toe pads show even in winter. Its legs are shorter, so it moves low to the ground, almost creeping, while the pine marten runs in bounds.
The shape and size of the bib vary, and Caucasian stone martens often have a reduced one. Sometimes the bib is broken up or barely visible, and a pine marten can have a white bib too. So do not rely on one feature: judge the bib shape, nose colour and feet together.
Colour
The winter coat is greyish brown with a reddish tinge. The soft underfur is whitish and shows through more on the flanks, so the sides look paler than the back. The tail and legs are dark brown. The summer coat is short, coarse and lighter. The most striking feature is the pure white bib, and Caucasian martens are generally rather dark.
Swatches are illustrative. Do not identify a species by colour alone.
Often confused with
The stone marten is an animal of rocky and stony ground. It dens in rock crevices, scree, tree holes and stone buildings, and neither digs a burrow nor takes over one. In the Caucasus it prefers broadleaf foothill forest. In the mountains it occurs at the tree line and above it, up to 2600–2700 m, though in the north-western Caucasus it climbs only to 1000–1200 m. It avoids deep snow: each square centimetre of its foot carries twice the load of a pine marten's, so it sinks in. It also lives in settlements: in attics, cellars, sheds, barns and stone walls, and in towns even in old parks and cemeteries. In towns, especially in winter, its dens are almost all in buildings. Mid-20th-century data show it widespread in the Caucasus and absent only from the desert plains of eastern Transcaucasia.
The stone marten map combines public iNaturalist observations. Regions are taken from the records-by-region table, and the status column separates regions with enough records from regions with too few records. Record counts reflect observation effort rather than population density. So far only one region has enough records: Mtskheta-Mtianeti.
Data: Reptiles.ge + iNaturalist · Methodology
- Field observation
- Several records in one spot
- Region with records
The stone marten is an omnivorous predator and eats far more fruit than other martens. It hunts mouse-like rodents, birds, frogs and insects, and empties birds' nests of eggs and chicks. In summer and autumn fruit and berries take a large share: cherries, apples, pears, plums, grapes, raspberries and rowan. The diet changes with the place: in summer and autumn it eats almost only meat in the Caucasus, but mostly fruit in Transcaucasia. In towns it hunts sparrows, jackdaws, mice and rats. It sometimes gets into henhouses and dovecotes, where the panic of the birds drives it to kill more than it can eat. It hunts mainly on the ground and hides part of its catch for later.
The stone marten is mainly active at dusk and at night, and especially on moonlit nights. In summer, when nights are short, it is also seen by day. It climbs and swims well, but lives more on the ground than the pine marten. It is solitary: each animal has its own hunting range, which it scent-marks and defends against martens of the same sex. It mates in summer, from June to August, sometimes even on house roofs. The embryo stays dormant for a long time, so pregnancy lasts 236–237 days and the young are born in late March or early April. A litter usually has 3–7 blind kits, which open their eyes at 30–36 days. By early July they can no longer be told from adults. In the wild it lives three years on average and rarely up to ten.
Globally the stone marten is not threatened: the 2016 assessment lists it as Least Concern (LC) because it is widespread, numerous and present in many protected areas. Georgia's 2021 national assessment also lists it as Least Concern (LC). Its population is stable, and its range in the country exceeds 20,000 km². Life near people has a price: many martens are killed by cars on roads. It was also trapped for fur, though its pelt is valued less than the pine marten's.
Related guides
Continue with related pages
Yes, it is a resident species in Georgia. Its range in the country exceeds 20,000 km², and the 2021 assessment rates its population as stable. It is widespread in the Caucasus, living on rocky slopes, in broadleaf forest and in settlements. It avoids places with deep snow.
Best by the bib. The stone marten's is pure white and splits into two lobes below; the pine marten's is yellowish or orange and runs back between the forelegs as a single tongue. The stone marten also has a pale nose, the pine marten a dark one. The bib varies in both species, so check several features together. A marten around a house or in an attic is more often a stone marten.
Because the stone marten uses buildings the way it uses rock crevices. It does not dig burrows and dens in crevices, scree and stone structures. In settlements it chooses attics, cellars, sheds, barns and stone walls. In towns, especially in winter, its dens are almost all in buildings. Food is plentiful near houses too: mice, rats, sparrows and fruit.
Nobody knows exactly. Since the mid-1970s stone martens have been known to climb into car engine bays and chew hoses and cables. They do not eat what they chew. Such cases peak in spring, when young martens explore their surroundings and have not yet learned what is edible and what is not.
Almost anything. It hunts mouse-like rodents, birds and their eggs, frogs and insects, and in summer and autumn eats a lot of fruit and berries: cherries, apples, pears, plums and grapes. In towns it catches sparrows, mice and rats. It sometimes gets into henhouses and dovecotes as well.
No, it is not venomous. The damage falls mostly on the household: it sometimes gets into a henhouse, where the flapping birds drive it to kill more than it eats. It also chews car cables. At the same time, it kills mice and rats. Lock the henhouse securely at night, and do not try to catch a marten by hand.
It is not threatened. Globally it was assessed as Least Concern (LC) in 2016, and Georgia's 2021 national assessment also lists it as LC. Its population in the country is stable. Its main threat is being hit by cars on roads.
References
What this profile is based on
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Prepared by the Reptiles.ge editorial team from the sources listed here.
