India, March 1 -- Down To Earth brings you the top happenings in the world of global ecology

Pine marten helping British Isles' native red squirrel recover: Study

The pine marten, a predator native to the United Kingdom and Ireland is helping the native red squirrel of both countries recover, a new study by Queen's University, Belfast, has said.

The researchers wanted to show the significance of native predators in helping naturally restore ecosystems.

The red squirrel had been replaced in much of its former range by the invasive grey squirrel in the UK and Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The pine marten is a predator of both squirrels.

The researchers exposed red and grey squirrels to pine marten scent at 20 feedi...