The sable (Martes zibellina) is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kazakhstan, China, North Korea, and Hokkaido, Japan.
The sable's fur ranges from light to dark brown. Its head is elongated with long ears. It is a skilled climber and primarily hunts by sound and scent. Mating occurs between June and August, and litters typically have two or three offspring. Sable fur has been highly valued in the fur trade since the early Middle Ages, and its popularity has driven hunting and conservation efforts. Today, sable fur is often used to decorate clothing items. It has been categorised as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Etymology
The name sable appears to be of Slavic origin and entered most Western European languages via the early medieval fur trade. Thus the Russian () and Polish became the German , Dutch ; the French , Spanish , Finnish , Portuguese and Medieval Latin derive from the Italian form (). The English and Medieval Latin word comes from the Old French or .
Description
thumb|Illustration from Brehm's Life of Animals
Males measure in body length, with a tail measuring , and weigh . Females have a body length of , with a tail length of . The winter pelage is longer and more luxurious than the summer coat. Different subspecies display geographic variations of fur colour, which ranges from light to dark brown, with individual coloring being lighter ventrally and darker on the back and legs. Individuals also display a light patch of fur on their throat which may be gray, white, or pale yellow. Their skulls are similar to those of pine martens, but larger and more robust with more arched zygomatic arches.
Distribution and habitat
[[File:Russian sable.jpg|left|thumb|A Russian sable, as illustrated in The Trapper's Guide, 1867. The Russian variety yields the most valuable sable fur. but other recent scholarly sources have identified anything from seven to thirty.
Behaviour and ecology
thumb|Japanese sable in [[Hokkaido]]
The sable inhabits dense forests dominated by spruce, pine, larch, Siberian cedar, and birch in both lowland and mountainous terrain. Its home range is estimated at in size, depending on local terrain and food availability. However, when resources are scarce, it moves considerable distances in search of food, with travel rates of per day having been recorded. It is primarily crepuscular, hunting during the hours of twilight, but becomes more active in the day during the mating season. Its dens are well hidden, and lined by grass and shed fur, but may be temporary, especially during the winter, when the animal travels more widely in search of prey.
Sable offspring is born with eyes closed and skin covered in a very thin layer of hair. Newborn cubs weigh between and average in length. A wealthy 17th-century Russian diplomat once described the sable as "A beast that the Ancient Greeks and Romans called the Golden Fleece."
In England, sable fur was held in great esteem. Henry I was presented with a wreath of black sable by the Bishop of Lincoln, for no less than £100, a considerable sum at the time. The Russian conquest of Siberia was largely spurred by the availability of sables there. Ivan Grozny once demanded an annual tribute of 30,000 sable pelts from the newly conquered Kazan Tatars, though they never sent more than a thousand, as Russia at the time was unable to enforce the tribute due to wars with Sweden and Poland. The best skins were obtained in Irkutsk and Kamchatka.
According to the Secret History of the Mongols, when Genghis Khan married his first wife, Börte Ujin, his mother Hoelun received a coat of sable furs from the girl's parents. This was reportedly a very noble gift, serving not only an aesthetic need but also a practical one. Shortly after, when the young Shigi Qutuqu was found wandering a destroyed Tatar camp, he was recognised to be of noble descent because of his sable-lined silk jerkin.
According to Atkinson's Travels in Asiatic Russia, Barguzin, on Lake Baikal, was famed for its sables. The fur of this population is a deep jet black with white tipped hair. Eighty to ninety dollars were sometimes demanded by hunters for a single skin. As with minks and martens, sables were commonly caught in steel traps.
The Soviet Union allowed Old Believer communities to continue their traditional way of life on the condition that they hand over all sable skins they produced. The dissolution of the Soviet Union led to an increase of hunting and poaching in the 1990s, in part because wild caught Russian furs are considered the most luxurious and demand the highest prices on the international market. Currently, the species has no special conservation status according to the IUCN Red List, though the isolated Japanese subspecies M. zibellina brachyurus is listed as "data-deficient".