Nilgiri marten
Martes gwatkinsii Horsfield, 1851
The nilgiri marten (Martes gwatkinsii) is a species in the family Mustelidae, order Carnivora. Recorded adults weigh 2.04 kg to 2.04 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Vulnerable.
Quick facts about the nilgiri marten
- Weight
- 2.04 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Scansorialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the nilgiri marten live?
Not recorded
What is the nilgiri marten?
The Nilgiri marten (Martes gwatkinsii) is the only marten species native to southern India. It lives in the hills of the Nilgiris and parts of the Western Ghats. With only around a thousand members left it is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
From the Wikipedia article “Nilgiri marten” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nilgiri_marten&oldid=1379852334), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the nilgiri marten endangered?
The nilgiri marten is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species. What the categories mean.
How is the nilgiri marten classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyMustelidae
- genusMartes
- SpeciesMartes gwatkinsii Horsfield, 1851
Synonyms Martes flavigula gwatkinsii
Other names and names in other languages (23)
- خز نلجيريArabic
- charza jižníCzech
- Indischer CharsaGerman
- Südindischer BuntmarderGerman
- Marta de NilgiriSpanish
- nilgirinnäätäFinnish
- Martre de l'Inde du SudFrench
- ニルギリキエリテンJapanese
- ಮರನಾಯಿKannada
- ಮರಬೆಕ್ಕುKannada
- 닐기리담비Korean
- മരനായMalayalam
- CharsamårNorwegian Bokmål
- NilgirimårNorwegian Bokmål
- NilgirimarterDutch
- Kuna nilgiriPolish
- Kuna tamilskaPolish
- Marta-de-NilgiriPortuguese
- Нилгирская харзаRussian
- nilgirimårdSwedish
- கரும்வெருகுTamil
- Nilgiri sansarıTurkish
- 格氏貂Chinese
Relatives of the nilgiri marten
Other species in the same genus Martes.
European pine marten
Martes martes
Sable
Martes zibellina
Beech marten
Martes foina
Yellow-throated marten
Martes flavigula
American marten
Martes americana
Japanese marten
Martes melampus
CompareNilgiri marten vs European pine martenNilgiri marten vs SableNilgiri marten vs Beech martenNilgiri marten vs Yellow-throated marten
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the nilgiri marten?
An adult nilgiri marten weighs 2.04 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the nilgiri marten endangered?
The nilgiri marten is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
What kind of animal is the nilgiri marten?
The nilgiri marten (Martes gwatkinsii) belongs to the family Mustelidae in the order Carnivora.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Nilgiri marten (Martes gwatkinsii). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/nilgiri-marten
“Nilgiri marten (Martes gwatkinsii).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/nilgiri-marten.
@misc{nilgiri_marten_2026,
title = {Nilgiri marten (Martes gwatkinsii)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/nilgiri-marten},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}