Editing Sable (section)

==Distribution==
[[File:Russian sable.jpg|left|thumb|A Russian sable, as illustrated in ''The Trapper's Guide'', 1867. The Russian variety yields the most valuable sable fur.<ref name="friend"/>]]

In Russia, the sable's distribution is largely the result of mass re-introductions involving 19,000 animals between 1940 and 1965. Their range extends northward to the tree line, and extends south to 55–60° latitude in western Siberia, and 42° in the mountainous areas of eastern Asia. Their western distribution encompasses the [[Ural Mountains]], where they are [[sympatric]] with the [[European pine marten]]. They are also found on [[Sakhalin]].<ref name="martens"/>

In Mongolia, sables occur in the [[Altai Mountain]]s and in the surrounding forests of [[Lake Hovsgol]], the latter being contiguous with the Trans-Baikal boreal forest region from which the most valuable sable pelts come.<ref name="martens"/> In China, sables occur in a limited area of the [[Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region]]. In northeastern China, sables are now limited to the [[Greater Khingan Range]]. In eastern Heilongjiang, the persistence of sables is suspected in the [[Lesser Khingan Range]].<ref name="martens"/> Sables also occur in Hokkaido and on the Korean peninsula.<ref name="martens"/>

Because of the variable appearance of the sable in different geographic localities, there has been some debate over the exact number of subspecies that can be clearly identified. ''[[Mammal Species of the World]]'' recognises seventeen different subspecies,<ref name=msw3>{{MSW3 Wozencraft |id=14001258}}</ref> but other recent scholarly sources have identified anything from seven to thirty.<ref name=Monakhov2011>{{cite journal |author=Monakhov, V.G. |year=2011 |title=''Martes zibellina'' (Carnivora: Mustelidae) |journal=Mammalian Species |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=75–86 |doi=10.1644/876.1|doi-access=free }}</ref>