Habitat of the sable. Sable: description and care of the animal
Its closest relative is the pine marten. Only a few representatives of the animal world can boast of such nobility, such elegance and harmony as the sable possesses.
Sable (animal): description
The body of males reaches 60 cm in length and weighs 2 kg. Females are much more graceful, they are inferior to males in size. The sable's body is slightly elongated, its legs are short, and therefore the animal's back is always arched. The paws are wide, perfectly adapted to terrestrial life. The animal has a very bushy tail, whose length reaches 20 cm.
The sable has a triangular head, quite large. The muzzle is slightly pointed, framed by large triangular ears.
The real wealth of this animal is its thick, lush fur, which becomes even thicker in winter, covering its claws and paw pads. In summer, the color of the animal’s body is uniform, dark brown, the paws and tail are slightly darker. In winter, his coat becomes paler. The spot often appears in the throat area with a light shade, which is not observed in summer.
Due to the different color options, the animal has different names: “fur” - the lightest, “head” - black sable, “collar” - an intermediate color.
Spreading
Sable is an animal (photo presented in this article) that lives in the taiga region of Eurasia. The bulk lives in the Far East and Siberia. In addition, a small number of animals exist in Korea, Mongolia, the northeastern part of China, and the north of Hokkaido (Japan).
If the animal previously lived in this area in huge numbers, now, due to intensive fishing, its range has sharply decreased. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the population density was at least 10%. The coniferous taiga is the home of the sable. The animal never goes beyond its boundaries. It can be found in dark coniferous forests, where spruce, fir, and cedar grow, where it is dark and damp. He chooses hard-to-reach, cluttered places covered with stones, moss, and branches.
Lifestyle
The sable is a unique animal that is nomadic and the animal is tied to a specific area and rarely goes beyond its boundaries in its entire life. Forest fires, natural disasters, lack of food, mass destruction can only force the sable animal, interesting facts about whose life are given in this article, to leave its habitat.
The animal has a large number of temporary shelters and several permanent ones in its area. The latter are divided into winter and brood. It is characteristic of the sable that it does not build its own houses, but uses natural voids.
He chooses crevices between stones, niches under inversions, hollows in lying logs or trees. In winter, he makes his way to his nest under the snow. The animal does not hide its hole, which means it can be easily found by a huge number of tracks that converge in a common place.
Nutrition
The sable is an almost omnivorous animal. Its main food items are various rodents, mice, shrews, moles, and chipmunks. At times he catches pikas between the rocks, and sometimes eats squirrels. Large males can even hunt hares. The animal's bird food can include small passerines (adults, chicks, eggs), black grouse, and partridges. Although he hunts them extremely rarely.
Sables that live in the Far East can also eat fish. During spawning, the animals go to the banks of rivers, where they pick up dead fish. In the winter season, when it is more difficult to obtain food, the sable feeds on carrion. If a large animal dies, a huge number of these small animals feed on its carrion. Especially for this, they arrange temporary shelters for themselves nearby.
The sable will also enjoy honey. Having found a hollow of bees, he will come to it until he completely empties it (larvae, honeycombs, as well as the bees themselves). Although its main food is berries and fruits. He often steals pine nuts from the hollows of other animals, and in winter, from under the snow, he gets berries left on the branches (lingonberries, blueberries, cloudberries).
Reproduction
The sable is an animal whose fertilization and reproduction have been studied by scientists for a long time. Small sables are born in the spring, mainly in April, in the amount of 2-5 individuals. Birth takes place in one of the specially equipped shelters, which the female lines with moss, wool and hay. The weight of newborns is about 30 g, and they are completely helpless. At one month of age, they begin to distinguish a variety of sounds and also open their eyes.
Subspecies
There are several subspecies of animals that differ in habitat, fur and color:
- Sayan;
- West Siberian;
- Sakhalin sable;
- Yenisei;
- Kamchatka sable.
Fishing
Sable is an animal valued for its very thick fur. Such wealth brought many troubles to the animal. Its skin is very valuable. It became known as “soft gold.” Consequently, these animals were constantly hunted. Because of this, its numbers have decreased significantly.
Hats and fur coats are made from its fur. At the same time, they did not value sable fur and used it to cover the bottom of skis. Local hunters tried to preserve the number of animals. It was hunted only once every 3 years so that the population could recover.
Hunting methods
Sable is an animal that is caught in traps or hunted with huskies. In the latter case, the animal is driven into a tree, where it is shot. But if a sable hides in the thicket, it is almost impossible to drive it out. Then the hunters place a net around this place, after which they begin to drive it out with a probe. This method of hunting is called sweeping.
Taming the sable
It should be noted that sable is easy to tame. An animal at home resembles a cat in behavior. This animal very quickly gets used to its owner. At the moment, sables are bred mainly artificially, on fur farms. In captivity, a sable (domestic animal) can live up to 18 years.
Restoration of numbers
While maintaining the number of the animal, attempts were made to breed it in nature reserves and then resettle it in other territories. This turned out to be a difficult task, since at first it was difficult to obtain offspring. It was necessary to study the habits of the animal, making a lot of effort for this.
When planning the reintroduction of an animal, it is necessary to carefully study the area where it was released, and also check whether it lived there before. A change of environment (fires, deforestation) is of great importance. After reintroduction in this area, fishing must be stopped for some time.
To determine the territory for the sable, the availability of a food base, nesting sites, the animal’s competitors and predators is crucial.
captive
Some difficulties arise when breeding animals at home. The sable is a mobile animal, therefore, it needs a large area for its life. The cage must be specially equipped: provide a reliable bolt, enough space, cover the windows with metal mesh. The animal is very smart, it can open a lock without difficulty. To prevent him from getting bored, you can provide plastic toys, because the animal loves to play.
Barguzin sable is a mammalian animal. It is a relative of the marten. Adult animals have an average body length of 50 cm and a tail of about 20 cm.
Appearance of the beast
What does Barguzin sable look like? The color of the animal is uneven and depends on the part of the body. For example, on the head there is the darkest shade, almost black, the body can be light, from sandy yellow to calm fawn, or brown with darkening along the back and a rich spot on the throat. The first option is called fur and is used as the main raw material for all kinds of products. The second - collar is used for making shawls, hats and other items of clothing. Collars for the main product are often sewn from it.
Peculiarities
This fluffy animal is actually a very dexterous and merciless predator that loves to settle in cedar trees, thickets, stone deposits, headwaters of rivers and rocky areas. Sometimes he climbs the treetops. The Barguzin sable moves by jumping, which ranges from 30 to 70 cm in length. Thanks to the structure of its paws, it does not fall into the snow and deftly climbs tree branches. The animal has an excellently developed sense of smell and hearing, but its vision is weaker. The sound that this furry predator makes can be called a rumbling, vaguely reminiscent of a cat's purring.
Nutrition
The Barguzin sable, a photo of which can be seen in our article, feeds mainly on various rodents. Among them are red-backed voles, pikas, as well as squirrels and hares. In addition, the animal loves to feast on birds, for example, hazel grouse or wood grouse. The sable's hunting mode directly depends on the feeling of hunger. Despite the fact that the main activity occurs at night and at dusk, the predator also often goes fishing in broad daylight. In addition to food of animal origin, the sable loves to eat nuts and berries, such as lingonberries, blueberries, rowan, currants, blueberries, rose hips and bird cherry. Thanks to a varied diet, the Barguzin sable, the photo of which shows the animal in all its splendor, boasts silky and shiny fur.
Puberty and pregnancy
In the wild, the predator makes nests in tree hollows, scattered stones, and also in burrows among rhizomes. Reaching sexual maturity at two to three years, these representatives of mustelids reproduce for 10-11 years. The cycle of reproductive activity ends at a maximum of the 15th year of life. Predators mate in the summer, the main months being June and July. Pregnancy lasts approximately 8 months, more precisely 250-290 days, as a result of which from one to seven cubs are born. On average, this number is 3-4 puppies. The female produces offspring in northern latitudes, starting in May, in the southern regions - one month earlier (from April).
Where are they found in nature?
The Barguzin sable lives in the Siberian taiga, in the Urals, in the northern reaches of the forest vegetation of the Pacific coast, on the island of Hokkaido in Japan. Every year the number of this predator decreases due to the great value of its fur. High population density has been recorded in the mountainous regions of the Sayan taiga and Kuznetsk Alatau. Sable is often found in the central part of the region, for example, in highway and forest-steppe strips, also in Chulym.
The number of these animals is scattered unevenly across these territories. Southern latitudes, including the Angara region and most of the Yenisei region, can also be called densely populated areas. Indeed, many sables are observed in dark coniferous areas. For example, in the Baykitsky and Turukhansky regions, as well as in the Yenisei taiga. In lighter coniferous thickets, the number is considered average. In the northern part of the taiga expanses, the Barguzin sable is a rare “guest”. In the forest-tundra strip up to Nikolskoye and Potapov, as well as in the eastern region up to the Kotui and Fomich rivers, settlements of mustelid representatives are observed sporadically.
The smallest numbers, if not the complete absence of these predators, were recorded in the southern zone. The reason for this, of course, is thriving poaching. Depending on the region of habitat, there are Tobolsk, Kuznetsk, Altai, Yenisei, Sayan, Angarsk, Tunguska, Ilimpiysk, Vitim, Chikoi, Yakut, Far Eastern, and Kamchatka sable.
Usage
Sable hunting brings great benefits to the region. When fishing is done legally, and the number of animals is carefully monitored by a commission, no problems arise. But there is such a type of activity as smuggling. Expensive fur is exported abroad in the form of raw materials, after which it enters the foreign market as finished products. The cost of fur coats, coats and hats made of sable is very high compared to the price of skins.
Data
The record holder for the value of fur is, of course, the Barguzin sable. Interesting facts indicate that in the history of Russia there were times when for a product made from a given animal they gave an amount equal to the cost of an entire estate. When the demand for sable fur reached its peak, it began to be counterfeited with marten and other representatives of this family. After all, with high-quality processing of raw materials, an unenlightened buyer will not notice the difference.
The value of fur is still high today. Russia is the only supplier of sable skins on the world market. The number of animals on the territory of other states is disproportionately small, which makes it impossible to produce raw materials on an industrial scale. However, this does not exclude poaching.
Production
The market value of the finished product directly depends on the color of the Barguzin sable. Rich, dark fur has the highest price. Most often it is obtained from the Baikal forest areas. The sable that lives in this area has the darkest fur.
In the fashion world, products made from this raw material are valued primarily for their beauty and durability. A good fur coat will last for many years, warming its owner during frosts. However, global fashion houses do not focus on practicality. Today, black Barguzin sable is a sign of status and wealth. It pairs with dresses and outfits from famous couturiers.
For the first time, global designer Marc Jacobs presented an innovation to the public. His products were made from sheared sable fur, which further increased its cost and reduced its service life. After all, fur coats made from undercoat are quite susceptible to rubbing. However, ladies from high society were not particularly worried about this. After all, chic coats and capes were worn exclusively at expensive receptions, where it was impossible to freeze. The products served more of a decorative function.
Barguzin sable: animal breeding
The quality of the skin directly depends on the conditions in which the animal lived. The highest rates are, of course, for sables raised in the wild. Their fur is the most expensive. Therefore, many became interested in breeding Barguzin sable in captivity. There are a lot of nuances here. For example, if all the requirements and recommendations for keeping these animals are met, only a quarter of the total number of females is capable of conceiving. In nature, sables adapt more easily to temperature changes; they have no concept of stress. Statistically, being kept in captivity promotes later puberty. As a result, not all biological processes occur in the sable as intended by nature. Due to the low temperature in the enclosures, many females do not have time to mature their follicles, which leads to problems with fertilization.
Also, the peculiarities of keeping include the fact that individuals, depending on their sex, are kept in separate cages. This is what influences the low fertilization threshold in captivity. The reason for this is an interesting fact in the life of sables. The fact is that at the beginning of spring, females, as a rule, are in an interesting position. After mating, the male in nature is not far from her. During this period, called the hungry period, he brings prey to the pregnant “girlfriend” so that she can refresh herself and gain strength for her future offspring. In captivity, due to their separate stay, such a courtship process is impossible, which radically changes the entire cycle of the birth and appearance of new offspring, along with its timing.
Temperature conditions also pose difficulties for breeding. In the wild, temperature changes occur more gradually depending on the season. Animals adapt faster even to sudden cold weather. In enclosures, nests are made in wooden boxes, where the temperature directly depends on weather conditions. Therefore, the breeding process requires many years of skills, knowledge and hard work.
The cost of Barguzin sable differs depending on gender. For example, males have larger body sizes and longer fur. This forces us to focus on breeding males. However, this is impossible without maintaining the number of females, given that it is much more difficult for sable to reproduce in captivity.
The quality of the skins also greatly depends on the lighting conditions. Sables should not be kept in conditions of ultraviolet radiation deficiency. Although this happens involuntarily when animals are in cages. In the wild, these predators spend almost most of their life cycle outdoors. In any weather conditions, this provides the maximum dose of ultraviolet radiation, which gives the fur velvety and shine. In captivity, it is necessary to provide animals with natural sunlight.
Feeding
The diet of sables must be balanced. The animal's diet consists of two-thirds meat, the rest should be obtained from milk, cottage cheese, vegetables, and fruits. Taking vitamin supplements is mandatory.
A little conclusion
In general, breeding and keeping sables is not an easy task. It can also be considered difficult to recoup. Feed costs can exceed 70% of the cost of hides. But you should also take into account the arrangement of the cells, possible diseases, hygiene and other aspects of the breeding process.
Barguzin is a representative of the sable family. Like other subspecies of the sable family, this animal has valuable fur and is the target of fur hunters. In the market, its skins are valued more than other sables, since they are distinguished by their special quality - strength, softness, lightness, thickness and silkiness. The Barguzin's lifestyle is described in more detail in the article and photo below.
Description of the animal
Barguzin is a type of sable that lives in forests in the area of the Barguzinsky ridge and on the eastern coast of Lake Baikal. The animal is a cross between the Altai sable acclimatized in the area. Barguzin has an elongated body, short strong legs, an elongated muzzle with wide ears. Barguzin differs from other types of sable in its smaller size:
- male body length - 39-42 cm, tail -12-15 cm;
- female body length – 36-42 cm, 12-14.5 cm;
- weight – 900-1200 g.
The sable family is represented by different species, but the barguzin is the most valuable among them. Its fur is colored in brown tones of varying degrees of saturation, there is a light spot on the throat, and the head is lighter than the body.
Attention! At fur auctions, almost black Barguzin skins are the most valuable.
Due to active hunting in the past, today the Barguzin sable is found in the wild only on the territory of the Barguzin Nature Reserve. In other areas it is practically absent. For industrial use, barguzins are bred artificially on fur farms. Their skins are used to sew fur coats, coats, hats and collars.
How does the animal live?
In nature, the Barguzin sable lives in the humid taiga thicket, consisting of thickets of fir, cedar and spruce, and shrubs. It settles in hollows and under the roots of trees, burrows formed naturally, and gorges. One animal, as a rule, has several homes at the same time - permanent and temporary. They line their nest with moss or hay. The animal is distinguished by great cleanliness, arranging a toilet separately. The animal lives in one place for about 2-3 years, then changes it.
Barguzin serves as food for harzas, large owls, hawks, wolves and bears. Its competitors in the food chain are the weasel and stoat, which also feed on small rodents.
Barguzin is very active and dexterous and hunts at night. It easily runs on snow cover, escaping from predators, chooses difficult paths, and is able to cover 3-20 km in search of food. In winter, the animal is able to create tunnels under the snow without coming to the surface for up to 7 days in a row.
The animal climbs a tree clumsily, but deftly jumps from one to another, covering distances of 3-4 m. It swims poorly, so it does not like water, but it can hunt fish during the spawning period. The average lifespan of a barguzin in nature is 8 years.
The barguzin mates in June and July; females carry their cubs for about 300 days. Babies are born blind and deaf in the spring; only a month later they begin to see, hearing even later. In 1 litter, a female Barguzin brings 1-4 puppies. From the second month of life, she begins to feed them with meat; the young animals become completely independent by mid-summer. During this period, the females are again ready for a new rut, while the young animals become sexually mature in the second year.
What does the Barguzin sable eat?
Barguzin is a predatory animal distinguished by its omnivorous nature, good sense of smell and hearing, and ingenuity. He can smell his prey even under a thick layer of snow. In the wild, the basis of its diet consists of hares and moles, as well as small rodents - mice, chipmunks, pikas, shrews, squirrels. The predator also hunts for wood grouse, black grouse, and sparrows sleeping under the snow. During periods of famine, the barguzin feeds on washed-up fish and carrion, as well as taiga honey and plant foods:
- lingonberries;
- blueberries;
- rowan;
- cloudberry.
Attention! Barguzin does not collect nuts on his own, but steals from stocks made by squirrels, chipmunks and other animals.
When raising Barguzin sable in captivity, it is provided with a varied and balanced diet, including meat, vegetable and dairy products, and vitamin supplements. In captivity, the animal lives 18-20 years.
To preserve this type of sable, they are bred in captivity and then resettled in the reserve and in other areas. The process of artificial breeding of barguzin is complex, since when locked in cages, it loses its ability to reproduce.
Barguzin: video
Area: Russia (Siberia, Far East, Kuril Islands, Sakhalin), Korea, China, Mongolia, Japan (Hokkaido Island),
Description: The sable is a slender and graceful predator. The body is flexible and elongated. The head is wedge-shaped with a pointed muzzle, the ears are triangular in shape. The paws are small. The tail is short and covered with fluffy fur.
Sable fur is soft and fluffy. In winter, the fur is covered with paw pads and claws. The animals molt once a year. Males are larger than females (by about 5-10%).
Color: highly variable - from dark brown to yellow-fawn, with a light spot on the throat (gray, white or pale yellow). The tail and paws are dark, the head is light, the underfur is from yellowish-red to dark gray.
Size: body length 35-56 cm, tail 10-17 cm.
Weight: males 0.88-1.8 kg, females 0.7-1.56 kg.
Lifespan: in captivity up to 15 years, in nature up to 8.
Habitat: mountain and lowland taiga (cedar, deciduous and pine forests), thickets of cedar and birch elfin, rocky placers, windbreaks, forest-tundra, upper reaches of mountain rivers, subalpine woodlands - 1200-1500 m above sea level. Avoids barren mountain peaks.
Food: small mammals (voles, mice, pikas, squirrels, hares, chipmunks, moles, shrews), birds and their eggs (grouse, ptarmigan, hazel grouse, passerines), insects (bees and their larvae), nuts (pine), berries (rowanberry, blueberry, lingonberry, blueberry, bird cherry, currant, rose hip, cloudberry) and plants (ledum), carrion and bee honey.
Behavior: sable is an agile and fast animal. It goes hunting at night, sometimes (if there is a shortage of food) during daylight hours. Hearing and smell are well developed.
It robs the supplies of rodents and birds, eating nuts. Mainly hunts on the ground. Adult (experienced) animals spend less time searching for food than young ones.
It climbs trees well, but can jump from tree to tree only if the tree branches are tightly closed.
For rest, it uses a nest, which it makes in various voids: under fallen trees, in low tree hollows or under stones. Lines the bottom with wood dust, hay, feathers and moss. During bad weather it remains in the nest. Inside the nest, the temperature stays between 15-23"C. A latrine is located not far from the hole.
If the nest is on the ground, then in winter the sable digs a tunnel to it in the snow (up to 2-3 m long). Once every 2-3 years it replaces the old nest with a new one.
Swims poorly, because... the fur gets wet quickly.
Social structure: Except for the breeding season, it leads a solitary, territorial lifestyle. Individual plot from 150 to 2000 hectares. The owner of the site actively protects it from strangers.
Reproduction: The female makes a nest in hollows or under the roots of trees. The nest is lined with hay, moss or the hair of eaten rodents.
Males fight among themselves for the female, sometimes such fights can be very cruel.
The female protects her cubs, boldly attacking even the dog if it is too close to the nest. If the litter is disturbed, the female moves the pups to another nest.
Breeding season/period: the false rut begins in February-March, and the true one in June-July.
Puberty: 2-3 years, reproductive age (in captivity) up to 8-9 years, although there are females that bear offspring at 13-15 years.
Pregnancy: with a long latent stage of development - 9-10 months.
Offspring: the female gives birth to 3-7 blind puppies, weighing about 30 g, up to 11.5 cm long. Ears open per month, and eyes open at 30-35 days. They begin to leave the nest at 1.5 months. age. In August, the sable cubs become completely independent and leave their mother.
Population/conservation status: early 20th century. sable, as a species, was practically exterminated.
But thanks to the protection in 1940-60. numbers began to increase. In 1970, the population numbered about 200 thousand individuals. The species is included in International IUCN Red List.
Sable creates sterile hybrids with pine marten, which are called kindus.
There are several subspecies: West Siberian sable ( Martes zibellina zibellina), Yenisei sable ( M. z. yenisejensis), Sayan sable ( M. z. sajanensis), Barguzin sable ( M. z. princeps), Kamchatka sable ( M. z. camtshadalica), Sakhalin sable ( M. z. sahalinensis).
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Sable (lat. Martes zibellina) is a mammal of the mustelid family.
From time immemorial, the Siberian peoples paid tribute in sables - first to the Chinese, then to the Mongols. After the development of the Siberian expanses by Russia, the glory of owning sable lands passed to it: sables began to be called “Russians”, their skins were necessarily included in the number of ambassadorial gifts. Sable furs were used for hats, fur coats or their down; “wearing sables” was considered prestigious in Rus' and Europe, a sign of high wealth.
Appearance
In appearance it resembles a marten, being its close relative. The body is elongated, very flexible, with relatively short legs, which is why the animal constantly stands with a strongly arched back. The sable, in comparison with the marten, is stockier, with shorter ears, very wide paws with soles completely covered with hair, with a relatively short tail (its end does not protrude beyond the ends of the legs extended back), making up about a third of the body length, and is always lowered down. The head is wedge-shaped, with a pointed muzzle, and looks very large, especially in summer. The ears are large, triangular in shape with a wide base.
The animal is very strong, fast and agile. Males reach a length of 38-56 cm with a tail, the length of which is 9-17 cm. Body weight ranges from 900 to 1800 g. Females reach a length of 35-51 cm. The length of the tail is 7.5-12 cm The weight of the fair sex is slightly less than that of the stronger half. The animal's paws are wide. The sable is a plantigrade animal with wide paws, the soles of which are densely covered with coarse hair (especially in winter). In the daytime, the sable sees poorly and behaves uncertainly, but at night it displays great dexterity. If necessary, it can dive into the snow and move through its thickness.
The fur varies at different times of the year.
In winter it is fluffy, very thick and unusually tender. By summer, the fur thins out and becomes sleek. Fur color varies from light to dark brown. The inhabitants of the Baikal taiga, Yakut and Kamchatka have almost black fur. This is the most valuable color for fishermen. Under the throat the animal has a pale yellow spot with blurred boundaries.
“Fur” - the color is very light, sandy yellow or fawn - the cheapest. Intermediate colors: “collar” - brown in tone with a dark stripe on the back, lighter sides and a large bright throat patch.
The winter fur of sable is an exceptionally beautiful black-brown color, the head is lighter than the body (how sables differ from martens). It is very good even in light-colored subspecies. The winter fur of the sable is unusually thick, fluffy, delicate, lighter than the summer fur, and covers the pads and claws on the paws. There is a vaguely defined yellow spot on the throat and chest. The tail and paws are black and brown.
In summer, the sable looks completely different, it seems thin, long, on high legs, with a long tail, with a disproportionately large head, but still with wide paws.
Habitats
The sable lives throughout almost the entire taiga zone of Eurasia from the northern Cis-Urals to the Pacific coast and adjacent islands. The main part of its range lies in Russia, covering the entire vast territory of Siberia and the Far East. Among other countries, sable is found only in Mongolia, northeast China, Korea and the northernmost island of Japan - Hokkaido. Once upon a time, the sable lived throughout this vast space; the distribution area was almost continuous. Due to intensive fishing, by the beginning of the 20th century, the range had sharply decreased: the areas inhabited by this animal accounted for barely 10% of the territories previously occupied by it, the range turned into several isolated and highly separated pockets. Later, there was a partial restoration of the range, but to this day the areas where the sable is distributed barely account for half of its natural range.
The sable is a typical inhabitant of mountain and lowland taiga, especially pine forests, where it is attracted by the relative abundance of rodents and nut crops. Less commonly, sable settles in the mountains in thickets of cedar, in northern woodlands, and in Kamchatka - in birch forests. Sable never goes beyond the coniferous taiga.
He especially prefers dark coniferous forests, where spruce and fir in combination with cedar form the basis of the so-called “black taiga” - damp, gloomy, with a highly developed moss cover, rather littered with windfalls. On the vast East Siberian Plateau, where light coniferous woodlands predominate, sable also lives in larch forests. In mountainous areas, this animal is common among “kurums” - rocky placers, tongues cutting into the taiga and overgrown with bushes: in endless labyrinths among stones, the animal finds inaccessible shelters and an abundance of rodents, and in winter - a specific microclimate: a thick layer of snow covering the placer creates its depth has a favorable temperature regime. Sable is also common among pine forests and along the edges of moss swamps. Where it is little disturbed, it is found in forests close to Photo Villages and mines. One day, a sable’s winter refuge was found even under the building of a holiday home that was closed for the winter. This small predator, unlike the marten, avoids only large cities and especially active cutting areas.
Lifestyle
A typical inhabitant of the Siberian taiga. Agile and very strong predator for its size. Leads a terrestrial lifestyle. Moves by jumping. The tracks are paired large prints measuring from 5x7 to 6x10 cm. Jump length is 30-70 cm. It climbs trees well. Has well-developed hearing and sense of smell, but vision is weaker. The voice is a purr, like a cat's. Walks easily on loose snow. It is most active in the morning and evening. As a rule, it lives in cedar trees, in the upper reaches of mountain rivers, close to the ground - in thickets of dwarf trees, among stone placers, and occasionally rises into the crowns of trees.
In the life of a sable, two periods alternate: sedentary and nomadic. In the first of them, the animal is tied to a certain area, within the boundaries of which it most often stays throughout its life. The sable hunts in its own individual area, which it leaves only in exceptional cases, being in general a very sedentary animal. In hungry winter times, when it takes a lot of time to find feeding places, the animal leads an almost semi-nomadic lifestyle.
Only forest fires, deforestation or some other serious reasons can force him to leave the site. Although some, mainly adult animals, undertake migrations and, as tagging has shown, move 120-150 km in a few months, sometimes crossing high mountain ranges.
In its vast habitat, the sable has several permanent shelters, brood (summer) and winter, and even more temporary. This predator almost never makes shelters himself, but uses what the taiga provides him, only adapting various kinds of voids to his needs. These are most often niches under inversions, between stones in placers, hollows in lying logs or standing trees. In winter, a snowy burrow 2-3 meters long leads to the ground nest. The owner hardly disguises the approach to the shelter: along a fan of converging paths, you can usually easily find a habitable shelter.
A permanent shelter, in which the animal lives for 2-3 years in a row, always comes with a nesting chamber. Its bottom is covered with bedding - the rot of the same well, hauled hay, or even a grass nest, “borrowed” from a vole, which the sable had prudently eaten before. A latrine is located not far from the hole, to which a path or snow-covered trench leads.
The sable is predominantly a terrestrial animal, well adapted to life in snowy winters. It has excellent orientation in the voids under the snow, and thanks to its wide paws, it can move quite freely along its surface. When a sable is chased by a dog, it runs away from it along the ground, choosing heaps of stones or dead wood that delay the enemy. In trees, the sable feels insecure, climbs worse than the pine marten, and rarely climbs them of its own free will. He can jump from tree to tree only if their crowns are closed, and therefore, having climbed a tree, he descends from it. In search of food, the animal usually moves in calm, even jumps 50-80 centimeters long, but when escaping pursuit, the distance between prints reaches 3-4 meters. This small predator goes into the water only in cases of extreme need; due to its quickly getting wet fur, it swims with difficulty.
The sable goes in search of food at any time of the day. When there is a lot of food, the sable runs only 2-3 kilometers per day, and if the animal is lucky and stumbles upon the remains of some large animal, then the small predator settles in this place for 3-5 days, resting a few meters from the unexpected “ a gift of fate” and trampling a clearly visible path between the shelter and the “dining room”. In lean years, the daily run reaches 10-20 kilometers, the animal visits all the places where it previously managed to find food, and eats the remains of its previous meals.
Of the sense organs, the sable has the best developed sense of smell, which allows it to accurately find food under thick snow.
Nutrition
When going out to hunt, the sable necessarily runs along every fallen tree trunk lying in its path, examining inverted roots, snags, rubble, and potholes, where it finds burrows of mouse-like rodents, which constitute its main food.
The diet consists of mouse-like rodents, mainly red-backed voles (red-gray in the south). To the east of the Yenisei and in the Sayan Mountains, the pika plays an important role in the diet of sables. Often eats squirrels and attacks hares. It destroys several million squirrels in the region every year.
Of great importance are chicken birds - partridge, black grouse, as well as small passerines - adults, chicks, laying eggs. In the Far East in the summer it fattens on the spawning of migratory fish - however, it does not catch them itself, but only picks them up on the shore. The role of the squirrel, and especially the chipmunk and pika, is small, increasing somewhat only when the cedar harvest fails. Unlike many other predators, the sable catches and eats moles and shrews in significant quantities. Large males manage to hunt hares. The sable is a great hunter of bee honey: having found a hollow with bees in winter, it visits it until it destroys all its contents - both the honeycombs with honey and larvae, and adult bees.
In winter, the sable often feeds on carrion: usually several animals feed near the corpse of a large ungulate, setting up temporary shelters nearby.
The sable is active at dusk, at night, but often hunts during the day. The sable also feeds on plant foods. Favorite foods are pine nuts, rowan berries, blueberries, and the sable also eats lingonberries, blueberries, bird cherry, rose hips, and currants.
Pine nuts occupy a large place in the sable's diet. Having found a chipmunk with a supply of nuts in winter, the sable eats the owner of these stores and his food. According to Prof. P. A. Manteuffel, he first of all eats up the brain and liver of his victim, and then the muscles.
Reproduction
Nesting shelters are in hollows of fallen and standing trees, in stone deposits, under roots. Pupping in the north in the first half of May, in the south in April. The animals reach sexual maturity at the age of two to three years and reproduce until they are 13-15 years old. Mating in June - July, pregnancy 250-290 days. There are from one to seven puppies in a litter, usually 3-4. Molting ends in mid-October.
The sable rut takes place in the summer. During mating games, he makes peculiar meowing sounds. In the western part of the range, where the sable is found in the same habitats with the marten, they interbreed with each other, resulting in the so-called kidus, or kidas. Some hybrids have predominant characteristics of marten, while others have predominant characteristics of sable.
The duration of pregnancy is 8-9 months, and there is a long delay in embryonic development, the so-called “latent period”. Sable cubs (from 1-2 to 7) appear in April - May, and live in permanent nests - in hollows, stumps, under a well, much less often in rock crevices and in earthen burrows, in winter, moreover, under the protection of deep, loose soil. snow.
The mother sable uses one of the permanent shelters as a brood nest, only carefully lining it with hay, moss, and the hair of eaten rodents. Newborns are helpless and weigh about 30 grams. By the end of the first month of life, the ears open. The cubs' eyes appear on the 30-36th day. From this moment, the sables begin to gradually be fed meat food and learn to catch a bird or mouse brought by their mother. The female protects her offspring and boldly attacks even a dog if it approaches the nest. If the brood in the nest is disturbed, the caring mother drags the cubs to another shelter. At the age of one and a half months, when the young first leave the nest, they are still very awkward and cannot climb trees. By July, when the female begins her next rut, they almost reach the size of adults and move on to an independent solitary life. Sexual maturity in young animals occurs in the second or third year.
The fertility of sable cannot be considered high, so sable hunting must be strictly regulated to avoid population decline. The population density in grassy and mossy pine forests reaches 150 and even 200 per 100 km2. An individual sable hunting area ranges from 150-200 hectares to 1500-2000 hectares, sometimes more.
In captivity, sables live up to 15-18 years, in the wild up to 6-8 years. Young animals are threatened by owls, eagles, and other large birds of prey. If a dog or person approaches a nest with a brood, the female purrs muffledly, warning the cubs of danger. And when he has to fiercely defend himself from a larger animal pressing on him, the sable “chirps.”
Sable is famous for its valuable fur, which has a high commercial value. As a result of this, the animal was mercilessly exterminated in the 20th century. The sable that lived near Lake Baikal was especially hard hit. Its jet black fur with white hair tips fetched $80-90 per pelt. The animals were caught in special traps. They shot very rarely, so as not to spoil the expensive fur. By the 30s of the 20th century, there was practically no sable left in Eastern Siberia. Nowadays, this species has a special conservation status in accordance with the International Red Book. But it is very difficult to combat poaching in remote taiga areas. At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, there were 15-20 animals per 100 square meters. km of taiga.
In 1929, the Moscow Zoo produced offspring from sables for the first time, and after the scientific development of conditions for care and maintenance, they began to be bred on fur farms, as a result of which sables became the object of industrial fur farming. In addition, the sables were released into suitable areas of Siberia, Transbaikalia and the Far East, where they took root well. Their numbers have increased so much that in many places they are higher than they were 100 years ago. Temporary hunting bans and the creation of state sable reserves played a major role. The Barguzinsky and Kondo-Sosvinsky nature reserves and a number of other institutions have done a lot to restore the sable.