2. Peanut butter is one of the favourite foods of North Americans. Do American martens have a taste for peanut butter as well? Answer by comparing the effect of peanut butter and the control.

The American marten has become a focal species for the conservation of forested landscapes throughout North America primarily due to its association with older forests and its sensitivity to human disturbance. Information on their diet is vital to understanding the habitat requirements of this species. Are the marten more attracted to chicken? Or lured by peanut butter? A research group in Ancient Forest Explora- tion & Research used sooted track plate boxes in order to compare marten bait types. During September 2003, eight arrays of track boxes were placed in forested areas of Rabbit Lake watershed in the Temagami region of Central Ontario. Arrays were sepa- rated by at least 4 km, located at least 1 km from a paved road and marked with Gusto, a commercial marten lure. Each array consisted of four track boxes with different bait types, one with chicken, one with a jam-lard-fish oil mixture, one with peanut butter, and a control with no bait. Track boxes were checked for a maximum of seven days, and the number of days until a track box was visited was recorded. The data for five of the arrays is available and listed in the following table.

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Number of Days until Bait Taken Array Chicken Jam-Lard-Fish Oil Jam-Lard-Fish Oil Peanut Butter Control 1 2 1 7 7 2 4 4 4 5 3 6 4 4 6 4 4 4 4 4 5 6 6 6 6