NATURE TABLE: Pine martin

The pine martin is a mustelid, a carnivorous mammal related to the otter, the stoat, the introduced American mink and, more surprisingly, the badger.

Up until recently they were rare animals with a few fragmented populations, mainly along the western seaboard but with one isolated population in the Slieve Bloom mountains.

However, towards the end of the last century there was a sudden and dramatic increase in their number and range and they are now probably present in significant numbers in every county. At the same time, observers noted a decrease in the number of grey squirrels east of the Shannon, followed by some increase in the number of native red squirrels.

There is international evidence that pine martins prey selectively on grey squirrels and little doubt that there is a connection between these population changes.

It is not certain whether the initial expansion of the pine martins was driven by the availability of grey squirrels as prey or by a reduction in human persecution.