He lives on your land, climbs into your car engine, eats you, but there's not much you can do<

It was a shift. In 1962, the Soviet biologist G. A. Novikov decided to penetrate the life of the rock marten and tracked one specimen all day. Had he known what awaited him, he probably wouldn't have gotten out of bed at all.

The beast from the weasel family took him on a seventeen-kilometer march through the snowy landscape. In search of food, she explored 107 different shelters, asculine holes, climbed 105 trees and in 57 cases engaged in furious digging in the wind. She didn't linger anywhere and only made minimal detours.

While the next day Novikov was probably rubbing his feet with some Russian French woman, the animal went on another marathon run across the wilderness. Although martens are small, they are extremely hardy, agile and very intelligent, which helps them overcome many traps.

There are two widespread species in Europe: the forest marten and the rock marten. Genetically they are not particularly related, their evolution separated several million years ago. For the layman, the main distinguishing feature is the bib, which the rock marten has in white, while its forest cousin is smaller and colored yellow.

However, experts found a number of other differences. The marten has a lighter nose, longer head, smaller ears and coarser fur. It also has shorter legs and, on the contrary, a longer penis, so the folk lesson of the connection between the size of the limbs and the genital organ successfully turns martens on its head.

Beasts live a solitary life most of the year. They stay away from all territories, which they consistently mark with scent marks. The mating season occurs in the middle of summer. Females have so-called induced ovulation. Their egg is released only on the basis of stimuli caused by copulation. This is also why males are above average in this regard, and the act tends to be long and noisy.

There are no exceptions to the hour-long games in which the lover holds his partner by the loose skin on her neck. If the marten date takes place at night, for example, in the attic of a family house, its inhabitants do not get much sleep.

Females are capable of giving birth to up to eight young in two months, but usually do not. Instead, they engage another miracle of nature called delayed nidation. It stops the development of the embryo for about half a year, so that it comes into the world only at the moment when spring is in full swing and natural buffet tables are literally overflowing with food.

In addition, martens are among the food opportunists, in popular terms they will eat anything they come across. They are rarely in dire need. Czech researchers calculated that there are at least 107 plant and animal species on our menu. They don't even disdain carrion, they also pick mushrooms. In autumn and winter, up to 95 percent of their food consists of seeds, fruits and nuts.

That is why they like to be found near human dwellings. There's plenty to eat all year round. Farmers could tell of decimated chicken coops and rabbit hutches. The killer instinct of martens is sometimes so strong that they will not be satisfied with one victim, but will bite everything living within reach. There were also recorded cases when they were so tired of the killing that they fell asleep right at the scene of the massacre.

In addition to traps and scarecrows based on motion sensors, reflectors and ultrasonic waves, there are also a number of folk recipes. It is said that martens do not like noise, so they are not found in houses where there is a lot of traffic or children running around.

Others advise that the marten must be attacked through its sensitive nose. They say it doesn't smell where there is a cat. Others buy tiger or lynx droppings in zoos. Another guaranteed guide is human hair, ideally undyed and unwashed for a long time.

Small animals like waste that other animals do not disturb. These are typically pieces of paper, plastic packaging, wax, pieces of fabric, condoms or chewing gum.

Automobiles are a separate chapter. Marten engines are attracted to residual heat, so the ideal way to get an uninvited tenant under the hood is to park near the forest before dusk. In addition, beasts like to nibble on hoses, rubber seals and insulation, so drivers are not surprised in the morning. There are professional scarecrows powered by a car battery, but even here there is room for people's creativity. A strong perfume or lemon peel is said to help.

At the same time, especially drivers should not underestimate the defense. If an animal enters the house once, its smell remains there for a very long time, which attracts other individuals who consider the place to be "kuna friendly", i.e. safe for martens and tested by kunas.

The bees also quickly learned that they have no natural enemies near human civilization. Wolves, foxes, eagles or owls keep a respectful distance. In our country, marten can only be hunted from November to February. Only hunters with a permit to hunt in the given hunt can shoot at them. However, gardens, cottage areas and house grounds are not hunting grounds. It's no wonder that martens like being around us.