Highlights

Although we only had one breeding male, last summer we were optimistic of producing one litter from our only pairing. Surprisingly despite encouraging observations no young were produced. It might be that this unaged male, acquired in 1999 and which appears to be relatively young, has yet to mature as a successful breeder. His mate last year has produced several litters here at Salmonier in the past. However, this animal, also unaged, was acquired as an adult from the wild in 1995, and may be in her twilight years in terms of reproductive ability.

Similar to problems encountered with the animal in the 2000 breeding season, our only other male marten again proved incompatible. This animal was exceptionally aggressive toward even the female with which he was most familiar, and was deemed to be a potentially lethal threat.

Although a request was made to return this animal to the wild in exchange for another male, this ambition was never realized.

Other attempts to acquire additional animals during 2001 also were unsuccessful.

Unfortunately this leaves us in a situation where we have three potential breeding females that will remain unbred due to the unavailability of males.

There is some concern that marten may be similar to ferrets, in that females in estrus which go unmated will enter a state of hyperestrinism. This can result in metabolic bone disease and is frequently fatal.

Marten births

As previously noted, there were no marten births during 2001.

Breeding attempts

Having had but one pair to run together this year, the best we can hope for is the production of one litter. This is contingent on the breeding ability of an unproven male and a female that is at least eight years old.

Current Animal Inventory

No change in numbers was experienced in 2001. Our present marten inventory consists of one wild-caught and three captive-born females, with ages ranging from 2 years to at least 8 years, and two unknown aged wild-caught adult male animals.

The Future

Through our education program and the realtime marten video display, Salmonier is providing a valuable public awareness of the Newfoundland Marten.

Over the past number of years, Salmonier Nature Park has developed husbandry techniques for the captive breeding of Newfoundland marten, which may be used, if needed, at any time to help with the recovery of this species.