My Mammal Web Page

These are fishers.

Fisher, Martes pennanti

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Carnivora

Family

Mustelinae

Genus

Martes

Species

pennanti

Description

Habitat

Range

Food

Life Cycle

Survival

Facts

Human Impact

References

Links

This is a fisher.

Description:

The fisher has a long, thin body.  They are larger than the marten, they are 2.-3.5 feet long and weigh from 6-20 lbs.  They have brown fur and frosted hairs on their neck, shoulders, and head.  It's tail is long and bushy, 15''.  Their legs, under body, and tail are black.

This is a conifer forest, a habitat fishers like.

Habitat:

Fishers can live on the ground or in trees.  They like conifers and mixed forests.  They are active in the day and night all year.  They like high canopy enclosure and hollow trees.  The typical trees that are in their range include spruce, fir, white cedar, and hardwoods.

This is the range of fishers.

Range:

The fisher is commonly found around southern Canada, New England, the Great Lakes, the Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada.

This is a picture of a fisher and its prey.

Food:

Fishers are omnivores.  They eat small mammals, birds, seeds, amphibians, and fruit.  Their favorites are squirrels, snowshoe hares, and porcupines.  They will also eat martens, shrews, berries, and beechnuts.  They hunt by chasing their prey through the trees and wait for it to lose its balance.  They will also eat discarded dead meat.  Research doesn't suggest any predators.

This is a picture of baby fishers.

Life Cycle:

Mating occurs in the Spring.  One week after mating, 2-4 fishers or 1 litter, are born.  Gestation lasts for about 11-12 months.  Healthy females breed at 1 year old, having first litter at 2.  They live in hollow trees, high above the ground.  After mating, they are usually solitary.  In the wild, the fisher's life span is unknown.  In captivity, they can live over 10 years.  The home range is 12-30 kilometers long, 100-800 in area.  Ranges extensively overlap.  Ground burrows are used in winter, tree nests all year.

See how they fisher can easily hunt in trees.

Survival:

The fisher is an adept climber with retractable claws.  This allows them to hunt.  They are agile and like all weasels, they have the ability to elongate.  This helps them to squeeze through spaces most animals cannot.  They depend on dead trees, water, and plant life.

See how the fisher can climb trees to hunt.

Interesting Facts:

Some interesting facts on the fisher are:                                                                                      1. They are the only in animal to regularly eat porcupines.                                                           2. 2. They are very agile in trees and can elongate themselves.                                                                                                                                    3. Unlike their name, they rarely eat fish.  The name was given to them for their likeness to a European cat.

Zoos are trying to help, hopefully they will succeed.

Human Impact:

Humans kill fishers for their valuable coats, they prefer the coat of the female to the male.  They are accused to having a negative impact on animals killed for game.  However, fishers kill porcupines who destroy trees issued for lumber which makes them very helpful to the lumber industry.  Zoos are trying to protect them and have fishers living over 10 years.

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For comments or questions contact Bill Wight at  billw@sbschools.net