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1/11 After an introduction to #pinemarten kits and their mothers from @JosieBridges91 yesterday...today we talk about the year of the marten and why their reproduction is pretty cool...
2/11 The best place for us to start is in Autumn, the season of love for pine martens. Around July-August, our furry friends will be making sweet sweet mustelid love. Martens are very promiscuous, with males and females mating with many partners. The pairs do not stay together...
3/11 Females are not officially pregnant yet. This fertilised egg (blastocyst) does not implant in the uterus, so development of an embryo is delayed for almost half a year!...
4/11 This blastocyst just hangs out over winter while our females hunker down for winter...
5/11 As spring advances our females start to look for the ideal den site to give birth to kits in. This is often in a deep tree hollow, demonstrating the importance of mature woodland for martens...
6/11 The increasing day length in spring triggers the blastocyst to implant in the uterus, up to 6 months after the egg was fertilised. Embryos can start to develop and gestation is short, about 30 days!...
7/11 The kits will stay in the den site for around 6 weeks with their eyes shut, drinking their mothers milk. When born they are grey but quickly turn into the fuzzy brown wombles we know and love...
8/11 Into late spring and summer these kits will grow, learn to climb and become more independent. By late summer (when they're around 6 months old) they will start thinking about dispersing. However, some kits do stay with their mother for almost a year!
9/11 Its summer. The kits, now rowdy teenagers, will heading out on their own. Breeding season is almost upon us. Males will be moving around looking for females to mate with. The wining and dining begins again...
10/11 The female kits will not be ready to breed for another year, giving birth when they are almost 3 years old. This is one of many reasons pine martens are slow to recover. However, with enough habitat connectivity, time and protection, they are slowly making a comeback....
11/11 Check in with @JosieBridges91 tomorrow for another pine marten family story. Big thanks to project partners and supporters @gloswildlife @ForestryEngland @vincentwildlife @Forest_Research @forestholidays @WoodlandTrust @nature_scot @forestryls
