Sable

With their smooth, finely tinted coats, sables have long been objects of desire — or, at least, their fur has. The sable is a forest-dwelling animal that sports a lush, silky coat and spends most of its time alone. Today, sables are animals that are commercially farmed, but large populations still exist in Russian and Mongolian forests. Smaller communities can also be found in other pockets throughout Asia.

5 Incredible Sable Facts

• Sable fur has been a luxury item since medieval times.
• In heraldry, sable is the word for black.
• Henry VIII, England’s famous Tudor king who married six times, declared that this fur could only be worn by nobles with ranks of a viscount or higher.
• Russia’s Siberian conquest was in large part fueled by the sable fur trade.
• Sable hunting was a job done by Russian convicts exiled to Siberia.

Classification and Scientific Name

The scientific name for the sable is Martes zibellina. It’s a faux Latin combination derived from the Old French word “martre,” meaning “sable marten,” and zibellina, which comes from the Italian name for the animal, zibellino.

Colloquially, the word “sable” has Slavic roots and entered Western European vocabularies during the medieval fur trade. Germans adopted the term “zobel,” the Dutch used “sabel,” and the Spanish “cibelina.” Medieval Latin, the language used by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, created the word “sabellum” to describe the animal.

Evolution And History

The Martes genus, to which the sable belongs, first evolved around 7 million years ago, during the Miocene era. The use of its fur has been highly prized since the early Middle Ages and was revered as an item of great wealth. Famous leaders in history said to have prized the sable’s fur were Genghis Khan, King Henry VIII, and Emperor Charles V.

Appearance And Behavior

These animals are between 13 and 22 inches long from head to backside. Their tails tack on an additional 5.1 to 7.1 inches. They usually tip the scales between two and four pounds. And typically, males are larger than females.

Sable fur is unique in that it’s smooth in all directions. When you brush it against and with the grain, it feels the same. However, the texture changes slightly with the seasons. Winter pelage is longer and lusher than summer fur. Coloring is geographically dependent, but all species are some shade of brown or black. Several populations also sport lighter patches around their throats.

Genetic cousins to pine martens, these animals are similar looking, except their hair is silkier, their heads and ears are shorter, and their tails are proportionally shorter.

Depending on food availability, their home territories are between 1.5 and 11.6 square miles. Most of the year, they’re crepuscular hunters — meaning they’re most active at dawn and dusk. However, during mating season, sables are out and about during the day as well.

For the most part, sables are solitary animals and only convene for breeding and child-rearing.

Types Of

The Sable is a species of marten belonging to the genus Martes, which has 8 species. The marten is a weasel-like animal that, in addition to the sable, is made up of the following species:

• Yellow-Throated Martin (Martes flavigula)
• Beech Martin (Martes foina)
• Japanese Martin (Martes melampus)
• American Martin (Martes americana)
• Pacific Martin (Martes caurina)
• European Pine Martin (Martes martes)
• Nilgiri Martin (Martes gwatkinsii)

Habitat

Forest-dwelling residents of Russia and Mongolia, these animals are most plentiful in the Ural and Altai Mountains. Smaller populations also exist in parts of China and the Korean Peninsula.

As great climbers, they prefer habitats filled with spruce, pine, larch, cedar, and birch. Typically, they burrow near riverbanks and deep in thick woods. Sables build lodges around tree roots, which serve as structural reinforcement. Inside, they carpet their dens with grass and shed fur.

Predators And Threats

These animals are omnivores whose diets change seasonally. Because of their relatively small size, they are prey for larger carnivores.

What Eats Sables?

These animals fall prey to wolves, foxes, wolverines, tigers, eagles, lynxes, and large owls.

What Do Sables Eat?

In the summer, sables primarily feast on hares, eggs, and other small mammals. During winter, they incorporate wild berries and rodents into their nutrition rotation. Sometimes, they stalk wolf and bear tracks in search of leftovers. And occasionally, they’ll eat fish caught with their front paws.

Currently, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature categorizes sables under Least Concern. The populations remain stable, and some are even growing.

Reproduction, Babies, And Lifespan

Reproduction

June through mid-August is the sable breeding season. To win over mates, males rumble like cats — often violently. When pairs form, they couple for eight straight hours. However, females don’t become engorged immediately. Instead, it takes eight months for implantation to occur. As such, their gestation periods are 245 to 298 days, but embryonic development only lasts 25 to 30 days.

Babies

These animals give birth in hollowed trees. To prepare for the event and ensure newborns’ comfort, they build nests of moss, leaves, and dry grass. Litters can range in size from one to seven cubs, but two or three is the norm. Babies are born with closed eyes and weigh between 0.88 and 1.23 ounces. Typically, they’re about 3.9 to 4.7 inches long.

After about a month, pups’ eyes open, and they leave the nest shortly after that. At two years old, they reach reproductive maturity and start having cubs of their own.

During the baby’s early days, mothers nurture and suckle the young, while fathers defend the nest and forage for food.

Lifespan

How long do these animals live? In the wild, the average individual makes it to 18. In captivity, sables’ lifespans are about 22 years.

Pine martens and sables can and do interbreed in the wild. Their offspring are called “kidus.” Smaller than full sables, the hybrids also have coarser hair and are almost all sterile. However, there is one known instance of a female kidu successfully mating with a pine marten.

Population

Sable subspecies is a hotly debated topic. One school of thought insists only seven exist. Others believe there could be 17 or as many as 30.

By the 20th century, these animals were nearly extinct from excessive hunting and poaching. However, commercial farming supplanted wild hunting, and sables experienced a resurgence. Their growth was aided by a Russian reintroduction initiative that lasted from 1940 to 1965.

In terms of population numbers, researchers estimate that over 2 million individuals are thriving in the wild. According to some accounts, their numbers are rising, not declining.