| Japanese marten | |
|---|---|
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| A stuffed specimen exhibited in the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Mustelidae |
| Genus: | Martes |
| Species: | M. melampus |
| Binomial name | |
| Martes melampus (Wagner, 1841) | |
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| Japanese marten range | |
| Synonyms | |
Crocutictis melampus | |
The Japanese marten (Martes melampus) is a marten species endemic to Japan.
It is 0.5 m (1.6 ft) in length typically, not counting a 20 cm (7.9 in) long tail, and between 1 and 1.5 kg (2.2 and 3.3 lb) in weight. Males are generally larger than females. The pelage varies in color from dark brown to dull yellow with a cream-colored throat. [2]
Both males and females are territorial, and the size of each individual's territory depending on food availability. The Japanese marten is omnivorous, preferring meat from fish, frogs, and small birds and mammals, but consuming insects, fruit, and seeds when necessary. [2]
The two confirmed subspecies of Japanese marten are:
It is most closely related to the sable (M. zibellina), with which it is sympatric on Hokkaido.
The Japanese marten's presence on Hokkaido and Sado islands are due to introductions. It has been recorded in South Korea, but no locality details prove a wild origin and no native population has been confirmed.
The Japanese martens' breeding season occurs between March and the middle of May. They usually produce one offspring; however, they can have up to five kits per mating season. The offspring are born blind and deaf. As a mammal, the female produces milk for her young offspring, but by 3–4 months of age, the kits are able to hunt and soon leave their mother. Sexual maturity occurs between 1 and 2 years old. Average lifespan in the wild is unknown, although a specimen in captivity lived for a little more than 12 years.
After reaching maturity, young martens often try to establish their territory. They mark their territory with scent marking. [2]
Japanese martens live in boreal forests in much of Japan's mainland. In the winter, martens tend to go to the forests where they can get the most prey. They tend to choose well-established forests because of the ways the creatures have specialized and due to their long lifespan. As such, martens likely are valuable in assessing the health of the forest. However, in the summer, their habitat and diet become much more generalized, allowing them to live in a much more varied environment. [3]
One of the biggest roles martens play in the environment is seed dispersal. Many fleshy fruits rely on birds and bats to disperse their seeds; however, in more northern climates, the numbers of these species decrease. With the decrease of these species also comes a decrease in seed dispersal. In these areas, carnivores with omnivorous diets, like the Japanese marten, can become the vector of dispersal. These carnivores prove to be good dispersal mechanisms because they often have large home ranges leading to dispersal farther from the parent. Furthermore, since the carnivores are usually larger than birds or bats, the can carry and disperse larger seeds. Around 62% of the Japanese martens' feces contained one or more seeds. [4]
Japanese martens have both positive and negative impacts on human activities in their habitats. As a positive, the martens prey on Japanese hares (Lepus brachyurus), which lower the quality of trees by their browsing. However, their prey also can include many insects which aid agriculture. [2]
The biggest threat to the Japanese marten is the logging industry, which targets its preferred habitat of well-established forests. The industry often clear cuts forests quickly destroying the creatures habitat without allowing it to recover. This practice also causes insularization of marten populations, in turn causing changes in foraging behaviors and the decrease of the genetic pool. [3] Furthermore, pine plantations in their ecosystems do not contain important food for the martens. [2]
Steps have been taken to try to conserve the martens. The most common are regulations on trapping. [3] The species has been named as a Natural Monument Species in Japan in 1971, calling for attention to the species' vulnerability. The species also has been given legal protection on the Tsushima Islands. [2]
In the Iga region, Mie Prefecture, is the saying, "the fox has seven disguises, the tanuki has eight, and the marten has nine," and a legend relates how the marten has greater ability in shapeshifting than the fox ( kitsune ) or tanuki . In the Akita Prefecture and the Ishikawa Prefecture, if a marten crosses in front of someone, it is said to be an omen for bad luck (the weasel has the same kind of legend), and in the Hiroshima Prefecture, if one kills a marten, one is said to soon encounter a fire. In the Fukushima Prefecture, they are also called heko, fuchikari, komono, and haya, and they are said to be those who have died in avalanches in disguise. [5]
In the collection of yōkai depictions, the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Sekien Toriyama, they were depicted under the title "鼬", but this was read not as "itachi" but rather "ten", [6] and "ten" are weasels that have reached several years of age and became yōkai that have acquired supernatural powers. [7] In the depiction, several martens have gathered together above a ladder and created a column of fire, and one fear about them was that if martens that have gathered together in this form appear next to a house, the house would catch on fire. [8]
Weasels are mammals of the genus Mustela of the family Mustelidae. The genus Mustela includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets, and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender bodies and short legs. The family Mustelidae, or mustelids, is often referred to as the "weasel family". In the UK, the term "weasel" usually refers to the smallest species, the least weasel (M. nivalis), the smallest carnivoran species.
Hitotsume-kozō (一つ目小僧) are a Yōkai of Japan that take on the appearance of a bald-headed child with one eye in the center of its forehead similar to a cyclops.
Nekomata are a kind of cat yōkai described in Japanese folklore, classical kaidan, essays, etc. There are two very different types: those that live in the mountains and domestic cats that have grown old and transformed into yōkai. Nekomata are often confused with bakeneko.
Kasa-obake are a mythical ghost or yōkai in Japanese folklore. They are sometimes, but not always, considered a tsukumogami that old umbrellas turn into. They are also called "karakasa-obake" (から傘おばけ), "kasa-bake" (傘化け), and "karakasa kozō" (唐傘小僧).
Amikiri is a Japanese yōkai depicted in the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Toriyama Sekien.
The bakeneko is a type of Japanese yōkai, or supernatural entity; more specifically, it is a kaibyō, or supernatural cat. It is often confused with the nekomata, another cat-like yōkai. The distinction between them is often ambiguous, but the largest difference is that the nekomata has two tails, while the bakeneko has only one.
Amefurikozō is a type of Japanese yōkai. There is a depiction of this yōkai in Sekien Toriyama's collection of yōkai drawing the Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki, and they can also be seen in the kibyōshi among other publications of the same era.
Otoroshi are a Japanese yōkai that appear in several yōkai emaki, such as the Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi and the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Toriyama Sekien (1776).
Mikoshi-nyūdō is a type of bald-headed yōkai "goblin" with an ever-extending neck. In Japanese folklore and Edo period (1603–1868) kaidan "ghost story" texts, mikoshi-nyūdō will frighten people who look over the top of things such as byōbu folding screens. The name combines mikoshi見越し "looking over the top ; anticipation; expectation" and nyūdō入道 "a (Buddhist) priest; a bonze; a tonsured monster".
Nurarihyon is a Japanese yōkai.
Bake-danuki (化け狸) are a kind of yōkai found in the classics and in the folklore and legends of various places in Japan, commonly associated with the Japanese raccoon dog or tanuki.
The kasha is a Japanese yōkai that steals the corpses of those who have died as a result of accumulating evil deeds.
The Nuribotoke (塗仏) is a yōkai found in Japanese yōkai emaki such as the Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi. They are also depicted in the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Toriyama Sekien.
Shibaemon-tanuki, or Shibaemon-danuki is a bake-danuki told in the legends of Awaji island, Hyōgo Prefecture. Along with Danzaburou-danuki of Sado island and the Yashima no Hage-tanuki of Kagawa Prefecture, he is counted among the "three famous tanuki of Japan." He is also written about in the colorful stories collection of the Edo period, the Ehon Hyaku Monogatari. While disguised as a human and in the middle of performing an act, he was attacked by a dog and killed, but the details of the tale differ depending on region and literature.
Yamajijii (山爺) or Yamachichi (山父) is a type of yōkai.
Ōnyūdō is a yōkai, or supernatural monster, told about in parts of Japan.
Hitotsume-nyūdō is a yōkai of Japan that has the appearance of an ōnyūdō that has only one eye
Tenome is a Japanese yōkai that appeared in the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Toriyama Sekien.
Yamawaro is a yōkai (spirit) said to appear in mountains in Western Japan, starting in the Kyushu region. According to mythology, it is sometimes said that they are kappa that have come to dwell in the mountains.
The waira (わいら) is a Japanese yōkai from Japanese emaki such as the Hyakkai Zukan by Sawaki Suushi and the Gazu Hyakki Yagyō (1776) by Sekien Toriyama.
| Authority control databases: National |
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