India, Sept. 6 -- For those fascinated by nature's assortment of creatures, but are not that knowledgeable on identification, a chance encounter with a yellow-throated marten affords astonishment and bewilderment in equal measure. Cruising along the Morni hills, Sohan Singh filmed a pair of what impressed him as strange fellows, quite dog-like in appearance and behaviour. Were they the outcome of some wandering village cur's adventures in the jungle! A perplexed Singh sent their video to me. While recognising them as martens, it struck me that their occurrence in Morni was unusual. I sought Prof Gurpartap Singh's command over natural history to ascertain the number of marten sightings in Haryana prior to Sohan's chance discovery at the end of August 2026. "This species is expected to be found in the entire Shivalik Hills belt relevant for us. Both Morni Hills and Kalesar fit the bill for the marten. That said, no museum record was found from Haryana," Prof Singh told this writer. The marten's rarity in Haryana can be gauged from the fact that I unearthed just two more records. Wildlife biologist Dr Rajiv Kalsi was astonished to find martens in his camera traps (set for wild cats) at Kalesar National Park in 2020-2021. Pradyumna Majumdar found four martens gambolling on a mango tree in Bir Shikargah in 2022. "Kalesar and Bir Shikargah are more in the plains though contiguous with hilly forests. These two fall in latitudes relatively southern for the martens' distribution range as the ecology of this species is suited to upland Himalayan tracts below the treeline," explained Kalsi. Martens are omnivores and quite cutely poke their snouts into the luscious lips of Semul blooms for nectar. But they are also bloody rascals: famed for agility and courage in nailing prey larger than themselves such as monkeys, langurs and fawns. Martens attack from behind, bite deep and hold on, while evading counter-actions with a deftness of step. Their fur is adorned in brown, black and golden-yellowish variations. As they emerge from their winter moult, the fur takes on a radiance. Coupled with their frisky movements, martens never fail to exert a charm on naturalists....