The pine marten has a rich brown fur coat that is thick and silky in the winter and short and coarse in the summer, after an annual molt in the spring.

The pine marten has a rich brown fur coat that is thick and silky in the winter and short and coarse in the summer. A complete molt occurs only once a year in the spring and the winter fur begins growing in September. The pads on the marten’s soles are also completely covered with fur in the winter.

Juvenile pine martens acquire their adult pelage in their first winter.

Sources: (Corbet & Southern, 1977; Grzimek, 1990; Nowak, 1999; Schwanz, 2000)
Image: Vince Smith