Diet composition of a hand-reared stone marten (Martes foina) after its release and independence in a Hungarian village

Lanszki, József and Sárdi, Bertalan and Széles, L. Gabriella (2010) Diet composition of a hand-reared stone marten (Martes foina) after its release and independence in a Hungarian village. NATURA SOMOGYIENSIS (17). pp. 309-314. ISSN 1587-1908 (print); 2062-9990 (online)

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Abstract

Diet composition and feeding habits of a hand-reared stone marten after release in a village was examined and compared to other martens which had lived earlier in or around the same village (Fonó, Somogy county, Hungary). The food habits were investigated indirectly by analysis of stone marten scats (n = 34 individual samples) using standard wet procedure. Studies in the autumn-winter period showed that the trophic niche of the hand-reared stone marten was relatively narrow. Plants (mainly grapes, apple and blackthorn) formed the dominant component of the diet and small mammals (mainly brown rat, house mouse and wood mice species) were the primary prey type, as in the other local studies. Contrary to other stone martens from Somogy county, predation upon birds was low (%B: 2.4%), and no domestic animal remains were found in the scat samples. The hand-reared marten preyed on mainly small sized and terrestrial prey species, and used garbage as a food source.

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