Humboldt martens

The Humboldt marten is a species in decline.  It's a subspecies of the Pacific marten, similar to cats and foxes and yet not. 

While most martens live in forests, there is an isolated population of Humboldt martens living in the Oregon dunes, and scientists are not sure why. 

With a new scat study, researchers are chipping away at solving a biological mystery on the central Oregon coast: the existence of an isolated population of a small but fierce forest predator that makes its home in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.