Fuinha (Martes foina)

Biometrics
Length: 40 - 50 cm, tail: 26 cm.
Weight: 1 - 2,3 kg

Curiosities
The beech marten is resistant to bee and wasp stings – this defense allows it to feed on honey and larvae without hurting itself.
In central Europe, they are often found in car engines, where they take shelter to protect themselves from the cold.

Beech marten
(Martes foina)

Class Mammalia, Order Carnivora, Family Mustelidae

General description
The beech marten has a brown coat, with a white patch covering the throat, chest and the top of the forelimbs. This white “bib” is characteristic of the beech marten, making it easier to identify. Its body is slender, with a short, broad snout and small ears. Its legs are short, and it has a long, bushy tail.

Feeding
It’s an opportunistic predator, feeding on a large variety of rodents, small reptiles, and birds. Their diet may also include eggs, arthropods, fruits, berries and may vary depending on the season and available resources. It can store food reserves close to the den for later consumption, particularly at times of the year when food is scarcer.

Behavior
The beech marten is mostly nocturnal and solitary, looking for food and exploring the territory at night. During the day it rests in burrows, mainly in tree hollows, but it can also roost in rock clusters, attics, stables, barns and even cork oak bark stacks.

In Portugal
This species is extremely versatile and capable of adapting to a great diversity of habitats and, therefore, has a widespread distribution throughout the country, with the exception of the islands of Azores and Madeira. One of the most typical habitats of the weasel is deciduous woodlands, but it can occur on the edge of various types of forest, on rocky and open slopes, and sometimes close to urban areas. It doesn’t have any specific threats, but there are factors that can contribute to its decline, such as habitat loss, roadkill, and illegal hunting.