Sable or oil painting are not manufactured from sable hair, but from that of the Siberian weasel. Sable The sable ("Martes zibellina") is a species of marten, a small carnivorous 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 Hokkaidō, Japan. Its range in the wild originally extended through European Russia to Poland and Scandinavia. Historically, it has been hunted for its highly valued dark brown or black fur, which remains a luxury good to this day. While hunting is still common in
American marten the larger fisher. The Newfoundland subspecies of this animal ("Martes americana atrata") is considered to be threatened. The Pacific Northwest subspecies, the Humboldt marten, is even more so, with only a few hundred individuals remaining. Compared to other carnivores, American marten population density is low for their body size. One review reports population densities ranging from 0.4 to 2.5 individuals/km. Population density may vary annually or seasonally. Low population densities have been associated with low abundance of prey species. Home range size of the American marten is extremely variable, with differences attributable to sex, year, geographic area, prey availability, cover