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| An Indian or Malabar giant squirrel in Kerala Photo by Amara Bharathy, CC BY-SA 4.0 License |
The genus Ratufa contains four species. All of them are found in South and Southeast Asia. They include:
- Ratufa affinis (the cream-coloured giant squirrel, which is a mixture of a darker colour and cream)
- Ratufa bicolor (the black or Malayan giant squirrel)
- Ratufa indica (the Indian or Malabar giant squirrel)
- Ratufa macroura (the grizzled giant squirrel)
The Indian giant squirrel’s coat is an interesting mixture of black, brown, beige, dark red, and maroon. The pattern varies. The black fur sometimes has a purplish or even slightly blue tinge. The cheeks, chest, and belly of the animal are generally white or cream, but the belly is sometimes orange. The squirrel’s ears are short and rounded and have tufts of hair at the top. The tail is very long. In the photos that I've seen, the animal always seems to be wide eyed. These features give the squirrel an appealing appearance.
The head and body of the adult ranges from ten to eighteen inches long. The tail is at least as long as the head and body and is usually longer. In some animals, the tail reaches a length of two feet. The animal weighs around four pounds.
At the time when I wrote this post, the Indian giant squirrel was in the news because of some interesting photos of the animal that had been published on the Internet. In some photographs, the squirrels had distinctly blue patches of fur and were described as having a “rainbow” coat. It would be interesting to know how accurate the colour rendition was in the photos.
I found one person’s photograph published on two sites. The squirrel’s fur looked purple on one site and bright blue on the other, which makes me a bit suspicious. I know that some cameras have problems with depicting certain colours accurately, but since the photograph was the same one in this case and the images were viewed on the same computer monitor, that doesn’t seem to be reason for the different colours.
Some Indian giant squirrels do appear to have navy blue areas on their coat, but I’d like to know how bright the blue can get. Even without blue fur, the squirrels are attractive animals, though. The multiple colours in their coat may help to camouflage them as they move through the tree canopy. I’d love to see the animals in person.
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| Another Indian giant squirrel Photo by Yathin S. Krishnappa, CC BY-SA 3.0 License |
The Indian giant squirrel is diurnal (active during the day) but is most often seen in the early or late hours of the day. It lives in deciduous or evergreen forests in the upper canopy of the trees. It’s able to jump from one tree to another and rarely comes to the ground. The animal builds multiple nests of twigs and leaves. The nests are used for sleeping and for rearing the young.
The squirrel is a solitary animal, except when the female is rearing her offspring. It’s omnivorous and feeds on fruits, nuts, flowers and leaves (at least occasionally), insects, and birds’ eggs. It also chews bark at times. It's able to manipulate food with its front paws. Like many fruit eaters, the animal plays an important role in its environment by spreading plant seeds to new areas in its feces. Potential predators of the squirrel include birds of prey, leopards, and perhaps certain snakes. The squirrel is said to be quite shy when humans are near.
The gestation period may be four to five weeks and one or two offspring may be produced per mating. Much more research needs to be done in this area. There appear to be quite a few gaps in our knowledge of the animal. According to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), the lifespan of the squirrels is about twelve years. An animal in captivity apparently lived for twenty years, however.
The IUCN last assessed the animal’s population in 2016 and classifies the population as “Least Concern” in its Red List, though it didn’t state the size of the population. It also says that the population is decreasing, however. The Red List classifies animals according to their nearness to extinction.
It’s surprising how hard it is to find published information about such a common and attractive animal as the Indian giant squirrel. I hope that more research is done and that it becomes readily available outside of India.
References
References
Indian giant squirrel entry at the IUCN
Facts about the squirrel from a zoologist at the Uttaranchal (P.G.) College of Bio-Medical Sciences & Hospital
Ratufa indica information from animaldiversity.org, University of Michigan
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