To be technical, this is probably best stated as a difference between the Guloninae and Mustelinae subfamilies, which of course only make up a fraction of the diversity of mustelidae.

I think the difference is in the face/head shape. Martens look more similar to certain canids (like foxes) and felids, but ferrets, weasels, minks, and the like have their own thing going on. Something about how martens look is just more appealing to me, and I don't think it's because they look more like other carnivorans, as I actually prefer them to the animals I compare them to in that aspect.

tl;dr: Martens have the cutest little faces, and I felt like over-analyzing it, lol.

A short article from The Guardian:

Leaves on the tracks, signal failures and strikes can all cause train delay headaches, but commuters in the Netherlands are facing railway havoc caused by badgers burrowing under the lines, with authorities struggling to tempt the protected animals out.

In the densely populated country, there is limited natural space for the country’s 7,000 badgers. They often dig out their homes, or setts, under relatively “quiet” train embankments, which are ideally situated away from people and also slightly raised, which prevents the sett from flooding.

Some of the linked articles describe nice efforts to create safe havens for the badger families while keeping trains safe. Hope the lil' stripey guys succeed with this year's family setts.

Hello, folks!

I've been interested in mustelids for quite a long time now. My first otter and mink sightings have only revived my interest in observing these carnivores in their natural settings.

For the first time, I was excited to see what may possibly have been weasel tracks less than a mile from our house. While our neighborhood is fairly urbanized, the outskirts provide ideal habitat for rodents and shrews, as is evidenced by their tunnels and little tracks. Alongside these tracks is where I noticed bounding prints in an open field, made either by a squirrel or weasel, but because of the lack of trees most likely a weasel (they didn't strike me as squirrel-like tracks).

Our neighborhood has many predators. Neighborhood cats roam without restriction, dogs are often unleashed, and red foxes are even present around the area.

I fear that the cats may be killing off valuable prey that the weasels that likely once inhabited the area preyed on. Worst of all, weasels are not exactly exempt from being hunted themselves.

My question is what I could possibly do to help them thrive in our area. I had thought of preserving the rodent populations, but is that a bad idea if the weasels never show up? I know that they are quite dependent on voles, which are destructive pests.

Our lot is rather small, and our neighbors mostly have open lawns. The unrestricted cats and dogs sometimes even enter our yard.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could do to assist these carnivores on our small woodlot? Does anyone have any ideas on how I could protect them from disturbance or predation?

(By the way, we live in the northeastern US, and the weasels I'm thinking of are short-tailed weasels.)

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks! God bless!

A young female Pine Marten has taken to settling in an Owl Box setup with a live streaming camera (24x7). Details on channel https://www.youtube.com/@ScottishWildlifeGarden. Male has been bringing some food, she recently brought back her own kills too.

The old main coin (at about 7 Euro) was a Kuna, which means marten, so... https://www.reddit.com/r/EuroCoins/comments/uj6ebl/final_design_of_croatian_1_euro_coin_unveiled_do/