Description
Males measure 38–56 centimetres (15–22 in) in body length, with a tail measuring 9–12 centimetres (3.5–4.7 in), and weighing 880–1,800 grams (1.9–4.0 lb). Females have a body length of 35–51 centimetres (14–20 in), with a tail length of 7.2–11.5 centimetres (2.8–4.5 in). The winter pelage is longer and more luxurious than the summer coat. Different subspecies display geographic variation in fur colour: fur color ranges from light to dark brown, with individual fur color being lighter ventrally and darker on the back and legs. Japanese sables (known locally as クロテン or kuroten) in particular are marked with black on their legs and feet. Individuals also display a light patch of fur on their throat which may be gray, white, or a pale yellow. The fur is softer and silkier than that of American martens. Sables greatly resemble pine martens in size appearance, but have more elongated heads, longer ears and proportionately shorter tails. Their skulls are similar to those of pine martens, but are larger and more robust with more arched zygomatic arches.
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“I fancy it must be the quantity of animal food eaten by the English which renders their character insusceptible of civilisation. I suspect it is in their kitchens and not in their churches that their reformation must be worked, and that Missionaries of that description from [France] would avail more than those who should endeavor to tame them by precepts of religion or philosophy.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)