Plantain squirrel

The plantain squirrel, oriental squirrel or tricoloured squirrel (Callosciurus notatus) is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand in a wide range of habitats: forests, mangroves, parks, gardens, and agricultural areas. Fruit farmers consider them to be pests.

Plantain Squirrel

Mating pair

Plantain squirrel
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Sciuridae
Genus:	Callosciurus
Species:	C. notatus
Binomial name
Callosciurus notatus (Boddaert, 1785)
Subspecies[2]
C. n. notatus C. n. diardii C. n. vittatus C. n. suffusus C. n. miniatus
Distribution in red

Description

Its body is about 20–30 cm (8–12 in) long with a similar-sized tail. It is greyish/brown with a chestnut belly and a black and white stripe on the side. It is very quick and agile in trees, able to jump a few metres between trees, and rarely wanders on the ground.

Like all rodents, it has two large upper and lower incisors.^[3]

Behaviour

The plantain squirrel is diurnal. It is either solitary or social in small groups, wherein squirrels communicate with shrill chirps and chattering while showing off their tails. These high calls may be alarms responding to the presence of a predator. Different types of predators prompt different calls and elicit different responses in the squirrel. A snake alarm causes nearby squirrels to move towards the threat and mob it, while a raptor alarm causes the squirrels to freeze and take cover.

Plantain squirrels breed year round, but most often from April to June. They are promiscuous, with multiple males (usually 5 to 7) competing for a female in estrus within her home range. Two to four of the males end up mating with the female, during which time they interact by barking and chasing one another. After 40 days of gestation, the female gives birth to 1–4 (2 on average) blind and hairless young, each weighing some 16 grams. The mother houses her litter in a spherical nest of twigs and leaves high up in a tree or bush. After six weeks, the young squirrels will usually leave the nest.^[3]

Diet

Its diet consists mostly of leaves and fruits, but it also eats insects and bird eggs. It is known to break open twigs that contain ant larvae to eat them.^[4] It can eat fruits much bigger than itself, such as mangoes, jackfruit, or coconuts.

Taxonomy

The genus name Callosciurus means "beautiful squirrel". Kloss's squirrel (Callosciurus albescens) is sometimes considered a subspecies.