Intraspecific Predation on American Marten

Bull, Evelyn L.; Heater, Thad W.

doi:10.2307/3536914

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…To our knowledge, there are no accounts of American Martens killing pre-weaned kits (1-6 weeks old), but fatal interactions among juvenile and adult males have been reported (Bull and Heater 1995;Bull and Heater 2001). Intact carcasses and overlapping home range data suggest these events occur for territorial reasons (Bull and Heater 1995;Bull and Heater 2001). Jones et al (1997) observed adult male American Martens at 6 of 16 (38%) maternal dens, with males scent marking, investigating, or stealing prey without causing harm to kits.…”

Section: The Canadian Field-naturalistmentioning

confidence: 99%

Documentation of infanticide in American Marten (<em>Martes americana</em>)

2013

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Reports of male American Martens (Martes americana) interacting with pre-weaned kits are limited. During the post-release monitoring of American Martens translocated from Minnesota to northwestern Wisconsin in 2008–2010, we documented a male American Marten without a radio-collar ascending a den tree of a radio-collared female in 2011 and removing two pre-weaned kits. The female’s movements immediately became unrestricted after the removal. We also documented two events where an uncollared male American Marten was at the den tree before and after the kit removal. Only female American Martens have been reported to provide care for kits. Visual inspection of the remote camera photographs suggests that all three events likely involved the same uncollared male American Marten. This is the first record of a male American Marten killing pre-weaned kits.

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