Fur trade marten furs could generate in international markets spurred a "fur fever" in which many Russians moved to Siberia as independent trappers. From 1585 to 1680, tens of thousands of sable and other valuable pelts were obtained in Siberia each year. The primary way for the Muscovite state to obtain furs was by exacting a fur tribute from the Siberian natives, called a "yasak". "Yasak" was usually a fixed number of sable pelts which every male tribe member who was at least fifteen years old had to supply to Russian officials. Officials enforced "yasak" through coercion and by taking hostages, usually
Beech marten a more generalist and adaptable species, occurring in a number of open and forest habitats. Its most likely ancestor is "Martes vetus", which also gave rise to the pine marten. The earliest "M. vetus" fossils were found in deposits dated to the Würm glaciation in Lebanon and Israel. The beech marten likely originated in the Near East or southwestern Asia, and may have arrived in Europe by the Late Pleistocene or the early Holocene. Thus, the beech marten differs from most other European mustelids of the Quaternary, as all other species (save for the European mink) appeared during the Middle