Nilgiri Marten

The Nilgiri marten, a rare species endemic to the Western Ghats, faces significant challenges due to habitat fragmentation and encroachment. A recent study sheds light on the precarious situation of this small carnivore and highlights the urgent need for conservation efforts.

Details:

Nilgiri Martens are the only species of marten to be found in India. They have a body length between 55 and 65 cm (21.7 – 25.6 inches), a tail length between 40 and 45 cm (15.7 – 17.7 inches) and they weigh approximately 2.1 kg (4.6 lb). They are brown in color with a yellow or orange throat patch and similar in appearance to the yellow-throated Marten.

They are active during the day and are mainly arboreal, although they do descend to the ground occasionally.

The Nilgiri marten is endemic to the Western Ghats of India
⦁ The species is habitat specific and localized within its distribution.
⦁ This species has been recorded across a wide range of elevations from 300 to 1,400 m with an average of around 990 m for preferred habitat.

Most of the records known for this species are from protected areas

Habitat:

Nilgiri Martens can be found in the hills of Nilgiri and parts of the Western Ghats in southern India.

⦁ Nilgiri martens occur predominantly in the moist tropical rainforests of southern India at an altitudinal range of 300 to 1200 m.
⦁ There have been reports of sightings in coffee, cardamom, wattle plantations, swamps, grasslands, deciduous forests, and montane-evergreen forests.

Diet:

Nilgiri Martens feed on birds, small mammals, and insects, such as cicadas.

Range elevation: 300 to 1200 m.

Habitat Regions: tropical , terrestrial

Terrestrial Biomes: forest, rainforest, mountains,
Wetlands, swamps
Other Habitat Features: agricultural

Behavior:

Given Nilgiri martens presumably social nature, they likely communicate both vocally and chemically, through scent marking, similarly to other martens.
They likely use sight, scent, touch, and sound to perceive their environment, although little is currently known about their communication

Conservation Status:

The Nilgiri marten is listed in Schedule II part II of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and Appendix III of CITES (India).

This species occurs in several protected areas. Some of these include Rajamala Eravikulam National Park), Mukkurthi National Park, Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary and Silent Valley National Park, Sholayar, Upper Bhavani, Brahmagiri, Kalakkadu-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Periyar Tiger Reserve, and Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary. It was also sighted in Silent Valley National Park, Attappadi Reserve Forest, Muthikkulam South Reserve Forest, and Nilambur South Reserve Forest.

Although poaching incidents are not frequent in protected areas, measures to regulate hunting outside of these areas are ineffective, especially in lowland forests. There is a need for more survey work, and more protected areas, especially in the lower altitudes of its range, and in particular the forests contiguous to Silent Valley National Park.