Food caching as observed through use of den boxes by European pine martens (Martes martes)

Abstract

Artificial den boxes have been used to supplement denning sites of the European pine marten (Martes martes) in Scotland and Northern Ireland where natural arboreal cavities are scarce. Here, information on food caches from annual checks are reported. Pine martens predominantly cached birds, largely juvenile passerines, followed by small mammals and amphibians. This investigation highlights the potential importance of food caching in the species, as well as the ability of artificial den box schemes to explore enigmatic aspects of marten ecology in the future.