Fur trade Russia exported raw furs, consisting in most cases of the pelts of martens, beavers, wolves, foxes, squirrels and hares. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Russians began to settle in Siberia, a region rich in many mammal fur species, such as Arctic fox, lynx, sable, sea otter and stoat (ermine). In a search for the prized sea otter pelts, first used in China, and later for the northern fur seal, the Russian Empire expanded into North America, notably Alaska. From the 17th through the second half of the 19th century, Russia was the world's largest supplier of fur. The fur
Humboldt marten Humboldt marten The Humboldt marten ("Martes americana humboldtensis or Martes caurina humboltensis") is an endangered, genetically distinct subspecies of the American marten known only from the old-growth coastal redwood forests of the U.S. states of California and Oregon. Less than 300 of them survive in both states combined, in three different populations of 100 each; one in northern California, one straddling the California-Oregon border, and one in Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. The subspecies was in fact considered extinct until being rediscovered in the Six Rivers National Forest in 1996. They are most threatened by a lack of population expansion