Martes foina
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The beech marten (Martes foina), also known as the stone marten, house marten or white breasted marten, is a species of marten native to much of Europe and Central Asia, though it has established a feral population in North America. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List on account of its wide distribution, its large population, and its presence in a number of protected areas. It is superficially similar to the European pine marten, but differs from it by its smaller size and habitat preferences. While the pine marten is a forest specialist, the beech marten is a more generalist and adaptable species, occurring in a number of open and forest habitats.
Its most likely ancestor is Martes vetus, which also gave rise to the pine marten. The earliest M. vetus fossils were found in deposits dated to the Würm glaciation in Lebanon and Israel. The beech marten likely originated in the Near East or southwestern Asia, and may have arrived in Europe by the Late Pleistocene or the early Holocene. Thus, the beech marten differs from most other European mustelids of the Quaternary, as all other species (save for the European mink) appeared during the Middle Pleistocene... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lusen National Park Centre | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Cumberland Wildpark Grünau | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 3 | Faunia | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 4 | Minsk Zoo | 🇧🇾 Belarus | |
| 5 | Zoo Sibiu | 🇷🇴 Romania | |
| 6 | Odesa Zoo | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 7 | Dolphinarium in Klaipėda | 🇱🇹 Lithuania | |
| 8 | Cumberland Wildpark | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 9 | Hankensbüttel Otter Centre | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 10 | Ogród Zoologiczny w Katowicach | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 11 | Дэльфінарый | 🇧🇾 Belarus |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Stone Marten sighting in Essen on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 11th most-seen of the 13 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January, August and October
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Stone Marten in Essen on a given day, against under 5% in March, September and November–December, the lowest months.
Between 9 pm and midnight
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Stone Marten sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
5th of 9
Of the 9 cities where we can rate Stone Marten sightings, Essen ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Hamburg (Germany, about 20%), Cologne (Germany, about 10%) and Vienna (Austria, about 10%).
Same order: Carnivora
The closest relatives of the Stone Marten that you can see in Essen (order Carnivora, Carnivorans) are Red Fox (about 10%) and Common Raccoon (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Stone Marten is recorded against all the mammals logged in Essen (9 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
