{{Short description|Species of marten}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Use British English|date=May 2026}} {{About|the mammal}} {{distinguish|Sabre}} {{Speciesbox | name = Sable | image = Sobol bur.jpg | image_caption = | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=iucn>{{cite iucn |title=''Martes zibellina'' |author=Monakhov, V.G. |date=2016 |article-number=e.T41652A45213477 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T41652A45213477.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Martes | species = zibellina | authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) | range_map = Sable area.png | range_map_caption = Sable range {{leftlegend|green|Extant|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|black|Extinct|outline=gray}} | synonyms = * ''Mustela zibellina'' <small>Linnaeus, 1758</small> * ''Crocutictis zibellina'' }}
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.<ref name=martens>{{cite book |editor-last=Harrison |editor-first=D. J. |title=Martens and Fishers (''Martes'') in Human-Altered Environments: An International Perspective |publisher=Springer-Verlag |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-387-22580-7}}</ref>
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== {{Refimprove|date=November 2025}} The name ''sable'' appears to be of Slavic origin and entered most Western European languages via the early medieval fur trade.<ref>"sable, n., etymology of" The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. OED Online. Oxford University Press. http://dictionary.oed.com/. Accessed: 11-2-2008</ref> Thus the Russian {{lang|ru|соболь}} ({{lang|ru-Latn|sobol'}}) and Polish {{lang|pl|soból}} became the German {{lang|de|Zobel}}, Dutch {{lang|nl|sabel}}; the French {{lang|fr|zibeline}}, Spanish {{lang|es|cibelina, cebellina}}, Finnish {{lang|fi|soopeli}}, Portuguese {{lang|pt|zibelina}} and Medieval Latin {{lang|la|zibellina}} derive from the Italian form ({{lang|it|zibellino}}). The English and Medieval Latin word {{lang|la|sabellum}} comes from the Old French {{lang|fro|sable}} or {{lang|fro|saible}}.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Sable|volume=23|page=966}}</ref>
==Description== thumb|Illustration from ''Brehm's Life of Animals'' {{Refimprove|date=November 2025}} Males measure {{convert|38–56|cm|abbr=on}} in body length, with a tail measuring {{convert|9–12|cm|abbr=on}}, and weigh {{convert|880–1800|g}}. Females have a body length of {{convert|35–51|cm|abbr=on}}, with a tail length of {{convert|7.2–11.5|cm|abbr=on}}.<ref name=walker>{{Cite book |last=Nowak |first=Ronald M. |title=Walker's mammals of the world |date=1999 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-5789-8 |edition=6th |location=Baltimore, U.S. |volume=1 }}</ref> The winter pelage is longer and more luxurious than the summer coat.<ref name=Ognev>Ognev, S. (1962). Mammals of Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. Jerusalem: Israel Program for Scientific Translations.</ref> 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.<ref name="grizimek"/> Japanese sables in particular are marked with black on their legs and feet.<ref name=trapper>''The trapper's guide: a manual of instructions for capturing all kinds of fur-bearing animals, and curing their skins; with observations on the fur-trade, hints on life in the woods, and narratives of trapping and hunting excursions'' by Sewell Newhouse, edited by John Humphrey Noyes, published by Oneida Community, 1867</ref> Individuals also display a light patch of fur on their throat which may be gray, white, or pale yellow.<ref name="Ognev"/> The fur is softer and silkier than that of American martens.<ref name="friend"/> Sables greatly resemble pine martens in size and appearance, but have more elongated heads, longer ears and proportionately shorter tails.<ref name=zoo>Shaw, G. ''General zoology, or, Systematic natural history'', 1800</ref> Their skulls are similar to those of pine martens, but larger and more robust with more arched zygomatic arches.<ref>''Catalogue of the contents of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London'', Volume 7. Printed by R. Taylor, 1853</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== left|thumb|A Russian sable, as illustrated in ''The Trapper's Guide'', 1867. The Russian variety yields the most valuable sable fur.<ref name="friend"/>
In Russia, the sable's distribution is largely the result of mass re-introductions involving 19,000 animals between 1940 and 1965. Its range extends northward to the tree line, and extends south to 55–60° latitude in western Siberia, and 42° in the mountainous areas of eastern Asia. Its western distribution encompasses the Ural Mountains, where it is sympatric with the European pine marten. It also occurs on Sakhalin.<ref name="martens"/>
In Mongolia, the sable occurs in the Altai Mountains and in the surrounding forests of Lake Hovsgol, the latter being contiguous with the Transbaikal boreal forest region from which the most valuable sable pelts come.<ref name="martens"/> In China, it occurs in a limited area of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In northeastern China, it is now limited to the Greater Khingan Range. In eastern Heilongjiang, it persists in the Lesser Khingan Range and also occurs in Hokkaido and on the Korean peninsula.<ref name="martens"/>
Because of the variable appearance of the sable in different geographic localities, there has been some debate over the exact number of subspecies that can be clearly identified. ''Mammal Species of the World'' recognises seventeen different subspecies,<ref name=msw3>{{MSW3 Wozencraft |id=14001258}}</ref> but other recent scholarly sources have identified anything from seven to thirty.<ref name=Monakhov2011>{{cite journal |author=Monakhov, V.G. |year=2011 |title=''Martes zibellina'' (Carnivora: Mustelidae) |journal=Mammalian Species |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=75–86 |doi=10.1644/876.1 |bibcode=2011MamSp..43...75M |doi-access=free}}</ref>
==Behaviour and ecology== [[File:Wiki-ezokuroten1.jpg|thumb|Japanese sable in Hokkaido]] {{Refimprove|date=November 2025}}
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 {{convert|4 to 30|km2|abbr=on}} 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 {{convert|6 to 12|km|4=0|abbr=on}} per day having been recorded.<ref name=Monakhov2011/>
The sable lives in burrows near riverbanks and in the thickest parts of woods. These burrows are commonly made more secure by being dug among tree roots.<ref name="trapper"/> It is a good climber of cliffs and trees.<ref name=soviet>''The Fur Bearing Mammals of the Soviet Union'', produced by London's Hudson Bay, in association with v/o sojuzpushnina</ref> 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.<ref name=Monakhov2011/>
The sable is an omnivore, and its diet varies seasonally. In the summer, it consumes large numbers of mountain hare and other small mammals. In winter, when it is confined to its retreat by frost and snow, it feeds on wild berries, rodents, hares, and even small musk deer.<ref name=Monakhov2011/> It also hunts stoat, small weasels and birds. Sometimes, it follows the tracks of wolves and bears and feeds on the remains of their kills.<ref name="trapper"/> It eats gastropods such as slugs, which it rubs on the ground in order to remove the mucus. It occasionally eats fish, which it catches with its front paws.<ref name="soviet"/> It hunts primarily by sound and scent, and it has an acute sense of hearing. It marks its territory with scent produced in scent glands on the abdomen.<ref name=Monakhov2011/>
Predators of the sable include a number of larger carnivores, such as wolves, foxes, wolverines, tigers, lynxes, eagles and large owls.<ref name=Monakhov2011/>
===Reproduction=== Mating generally occurs between June and August 15, though the date varies geographically.<ref name="Ognev"/><ref name="grizimek"/> When courting, sables run, jump and "rumble" like cats. Males dig metre long shallow grooves in the snow, frequently accompanied by urination.<ref name="tarasov"/> Males fight each other violently for females.<ref name="Ognev"/> Females enter estrus in spring. Mating can last as long as eight hours. After insemination, the blastocyst does not implant into the uterine wall of the female. Instead, implantation occurs eight months later; although gestation lasts 245 to 298 days, embryonic development requires only 25–30 days.<ref name="grizimek"/> Sables give birth in tree hollows, where they build nests composed of moss, leaves, and dried grass.<ref name="trapper"/> Litters number one to seven young, although litters of two or three are most common. Males assist females by defending their territories and providing food.<ref name="tarasov">{{Cite book |title=Biology of mustelids. Some Soviet research. |date=1975 |publisher=British Library Lending Division |isbn=978-0-85350-126-8 |editor-last=King |editor-first=Carolyn M. |location=Boston Spa |last=Tarasov |first=P. |pages=45–54 |chapter=Intraspecific Relations in Sable and Ermine}}</ref>
Sable offspring is born with eyes closed and skin covered in a very thin layer of hair. Newborn cubs weigh between {{convert|25 and 35|g|oz|1|abbr=on}} and average {{convert|10 to 12|cm|4=0|abbr=on}} in length.<ref name="Ognev"/><ref name="grizimek"/><ref name=Monakhov2011/> They open their eyes between 30 and 36 days, and leave the nest shortly afterwards.<ref name="walker"/><ref name="grizimek"/> At seven weeks, the young are weaned and given regurgitated food.<ref name="Ognev"/> They reach sexual maturity at the age of two years.<ref name="walker"/> They have been reported to live for up to twenty two years on fur farms, and up to eighteen years in the wild.<ref name=Monakhov2011/>
==== Kidus ==== The sable can interbreed with the pine marten. This has been observed in the wild, where the two species overlap in the Ural Mountains, and is sometimes deliberately encouraged on fur farms. The resulting hybrid, referred to as a '''kidus''', is slightly smaller than a pure sable, with coarser fur, but otherwise similar markings, and a long bushy tail. Kiduses are typically sterile, although there has been one recorded instance of a female kidus successfully breeding with a male pine marten.<ref name=Monakhov2011/>
==History of fur use and status== [[File:Marie Antoinette and her Children by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun.jpg|thumb|right|upright| ''Marie Antoinette de Lorraine-Habsbourg'' ''and Her Children'' by Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun (1787){{pb}}Versailles, Musée national du Château et des Trianons{{pb}}The Queen is shown wearing a dress and a ''pouf'' trimmed with sable.]] [[File:Sable skins Bargusinski.jpg|thumb|Sable fur skins in Milan. The price corresponds with the upper coat's abundance of glossy blackness.<ref name="friend"/>]]
Sable fur has been a highly valued item in the fur trade since the early Middle Ages, and is generally considered to have the most beautiful and richly tinted pelt among martens. Sable fur is unique because it retains its smoothness in every direction it is stroked. The fur of other animals feels rough stroked against the grain.<ref>Bigland, John (1844) ''A Natural History of Animals''. Grigg, Elliot & Co.</ref> A wealthy 17th-century Russian diplomat once described the sable as "A beast that the Ancient Greeks and Romans called the Golden Fleece."<ref name="siberia"/> Russian sables would typically be skinned over the mouth with no incision being made on the body. The feet would be retained, so as to keep as much fur as possible. Byzantine priests would wear sable for their rituals.<ref name=davey>Davey, Richard (2008) ''Furs and Fur Garments''. READ BOOKS. {{ISBN|1-4097-1942-1}}</ref>
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.<ref name="friend"/> Sable fur was a favourite of Henry VIII, who once received five sets of sable fur worth £400 from Emperor Charles V.<ref name="davey"/> Henry later decreed that sable fur was to be worn only by nobles exceeding the rank of viscount.<ref>Homans, Isaac Smith (1859) ''A Cyclopedia of Commerce and Commercial Navigation''. Harper & Brothers</ref> The Russian conquest of Siberia was largely spurred by the availability of sables there.{{Citation needed|date=March 2013}} 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.<ref name=siberia>Lincoln, W. Bruce (2008) ''The conquest of a continent: Siberia and the Russians''. Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|0-8014-8922-9}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Dschingis Khan">{{Cite book |last=Neumann-Hoditz |first=Reinhold |title=Dschingis Khan |date=1985 |publisher=Rowohlt Verlag |isbn=978-3-499-50345-0 |series=rowohlts monographien |location=Hamburg}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ratchnevsky |first=Paul |chapter=Sigi Qutuqu (c. 1180–c. 1260)|date=1993 |title=In the Service of the Khan: Eminent Personalities of the Early Mongol-Yüan Period (1200-1300) |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |location=Wiesbaden |editor-last=de Rachewiltz |editor-first=Igor |editor-link=Igor de Rachewiltz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kG45gi7E3hsC |page=75|isbn=978-3-447-03339-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |translator-last=de Rachewiltz |translator-first=Igor |translator-link=Igor de Rachewiltz |date=2015 |title=The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century |url=https://cedar.wwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=cedarbooks |access-date=22 November 2022 |type=Shorter Version; edited by John C. Street |others=LOC § 135}}</ref>
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.<ref name="trapper"/> In 1916, the first nature reserve in the Russian Empire was created—known as the Barguzin Nature Reserve—precisely to preserve and increase the numbers of Barguzin sable. Sable fur would continue to be the most favoured fur in Russia, until the discovery of sea otters in the Kamchatka peninsula, whose fur was considered even more valuable.<ref name="siberia"/> Sable furs were coveted by the nobility of the Russian Empire, with very few skins ever being found outside the country during that period. Some, however, would be privately obtained by Jewish traders and brought annually to the Leipzig fair.<ref name="trapper"/> Sometimes, sable hunting was a job given to convicts exiled to Siberia.<ref name="zoo"/>
Imperial Russian fur companies produced 25,000 skins annually, with nearly ninety percent of the produce being exported to France and Germany. The civic robes of the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London, which were worn on State occasions, were trimmed with sable.<ref name=friend>''The Friend: A Religious and Literary Journal'', Volume 32, 1859</ref> As with minks and martens, sables were commonly caught in steel traps.<ref name="trapper"/> Intensified hunting in Russia in the 19th and early 20th century caused a severe-enough decline in numbers that a five-year ban on hunting was instituted in 1935, followed by a winter-limited licensed hunt. These restrictions together with the development of sable farms have allowed the species to recolonise much of its former range and attain healthy numbers.<ref name=grizimek>(1990) Grizimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals Volume 3. New York: McGraw-Hill.</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Richards |first=Susan |title=Lost and Found in Russia: Encounters in a Deep Heartland |date=2010 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=978-1-84885-023-1 |location=London}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |last=Tyler |first=Patrick E. |title=Behind the $100,000 Sable Coat, a Siberian Hunter |work=The New York Times |date=2000-12-27 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/27/world/behind-the-100000-sable-coat-a-siberian-hunter.html |page=A8}}</ref> 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".<ref name=iucn/>
Sable fur remains highly valued and is integrated into various clothing fashion items. It is used to decorate collars, sleeves, hems and hats (see, for example the shtreimel). The so-called kolinsky sable-hair brushes used for watercolour or oil painting are not manufactured from sable hair, but from that of the Siberian weasel. {{clear}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Carnivora|M.}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q26423}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Mammals described in 1758 Category:Mammals of Mongolia Category:Mammals of the Arctic Category:Martens Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus