The coniferous forests within Alaska, Canada and the United States are home to a blackish brown weasel looking creature. Its eastern range extends as far south as New York. In the western United States, it ranges as far south as the mountainous portions of central California and Utah. Fast on the ground and in trees, it is a wonder that this animal is not better known to us. This animal is named the fisher.
             No one really knows how this strange mammal got its name. It has a few names that it is called by, such as, Fisher Marten, Fisher Cat, Pennant's Marten Cat, tha-cho (Big Marten), Black Cat, and Pekan. According to one story, the fisher got its name from the pioneers, who used fish to bait traps. The fish were being stolen by a dark-colored animal, which they named "fisher". (Pringle, 2)
             The fisher is a member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, in the order Carnivore. It is classified as Martes pennanti. It has dark brown, glossy fur, which gets white tipped as the fisher gets older. The female's hair is darker than the male's. Some fishers have a frost cast around the head and shoulders, or a white patch of hair on the chest. They have long, slender, weasel like bodies. The adult fisher is usually 20 to 25 inches long, excluding their tail, which is about 18 inches long. It weighs between 3 to 15 pounds. It has strong muscular short legs, which are similar to those of weasels, mink, martens, and otters. They have bushy tails and strong claws that are retractable like a cat's, allowing them to move about swiftly in the trees, which they make their homes in.
             Fishers are carnivorous, which means they eat meat. They hunt on the ground and in trees. Their main sources of food are snowshoe hares, birds, porcupine, mice, voles, shrews, moles, squirrels and other small mammals. In the spring and summer months, they also eat frog eggs, bird eggs, carrion, and fruits and berries. The f
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