Relationship between Sable (Martes zibellina) and Musk Deer (Moschus moschiferus) in Yakutia

The occurrence of musk deer with traces of sable bites on the auricles in commercial samples from different ecological and geographical regions of Yakutia has been noted. In general, among 24 musk deer heads examined, the proportion of individuals with ears injured by sable amounted to 37.5%. The proportion was lower in central Yakutia (14.3%), where sable number fewer, and higher in southern and northeastern Yakutia (47.0%), where sable are more numerous. Until the early 1980s, there were no signs of sable attacks on musk deer in Yakutia. Later, with an increase in the number of sable, climate warming, and an increase in the height of the snow cover, the pressure of this predator on musk deer rose. In the period 1990–2021, 31 musk deer bitten by sable were registered on field survey routes. The large proportion of wounded musk deer in fishing samples indicates regular, although not always successful, sable attacks on musk deer in recent years. Along with climate warming and the snow cover growing thicker, sable predation has increased and become one of the reasons for musk deer migration from the deep-snow montane taiga regions to central Yakutia, the latter being relatively snow-poor and populated by fewer predators.