Nilgiri Marten

About this species

Size

Head to vent 55–65cm; tail 40–45cm

Weight

About 2.1kg

Diet

Birds, small mammals including the Malabar giant squirrel, insects such as cicadas, fruit and seeds

Habitat

Shola grassland and montane rain forest, sometimes adjacent moist deciduous forest and plantations

Range

Western Ghats of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu

The Nilgiri marten is the only marten native to southern India. It is deep brown from head to rump, with the forequarters almost reddish and a bright throat that ranges from yellow to orange. It is larger than the yellow-throated marten, about 55–65 cm from head to vent with a 40–45 cm tail, and weighs about 2.1 kg. It was described by Thomas Horsfield from a skin in the East India Company museum and named for the collector Reynolds Gwatkins (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives mainly in the shola grasslands and montane rain forests of the Western Ghats, and sometimes in adjacent moist deciduous forest and plantations, in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Nilgiri Hills are the centre of its range, with sightings also from Charmadi Ghat and the Neyyar and Peppara Wildlife Sanctuaries. It is diurnal and mainly arboreal, coming to the ground only occasionally, and it is omnivorous, taking birds, small mammals and insects as well as fruit and seeds (Wikipedia, general species account).

Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)