Indian giant squirrel

Indian giant squirrel
R. i. indica in Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary, Karnataka, India
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Sciuridae
Genus:	Ratufa
Species:	R. indica
Binomial name
Ratufa indica (Erxleben, 1777)
Subspecies[3]
R. i. indica R. i. centralis R. i. dealbata R. i. maxima
Indian giant squirrel range

The Indian giant squirrel or Malabar giant squirrel (Ratufa indica) is a large multi-coloured

This species is endemic to India, with main sections of its distribution in the Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats and Satpura Range as far north as Madhya Pradesh (approximately 22° N).^[1][4] It is found at altitudes of 180–2,300 m (590–7,550 ft) in tropical deciduous, semi-deciduous (where often utilizing denser riparian growth), and moist evergreen forests and woodlands.^[1][4][5] In general, its distribution is fragmented because it is intolerant of habitat degradation.^[1] The Indian giant squirrel generally nests in taller trees with a mean height of 11 m (36 ft) (±3 m (10 ft) SD) in order to avoid predators.^[6]

Description

The Indian giant squirrel is one of the largest squirrels, with a head–and–body length of 25–50 cm (10 in – 1 ft 8 in), a tail that is about the same or somewhat longer, and a weight of 1.5–2 kg (3.3–4.4 lb), although rarely up to 3 kg (6.6 lb).^[7][8] Average for both sexes is about 36 cm (1 ft 2 in) in head–and–body length, 45 cm (1 ft 6 in) in tail length and 1.7–1.8 kg (3.7–4.0 lb) in weight.^[5]

It has a conspicuous one-, two-, or three-toned colour scheme.

• R. i. dealbatus (top left)
• R. i. indica (below left)
• "R. i. bengalensis" (=R. i. indica–maxima intergrade; top right)
• R. i. maxima (below right)

Ten subspecies have been described,^[8] but recent authorities generally recognise four:^[5][11][1]

• R. i. indica: Found in the northern and central Western Ghats from around
  synonyms of R. i. indica.^[3]
• R. i. centralis: From central and eastern India, notably in the Satpura Range and Eastern Ghats (all other subspecies are from the Western Ghats region). It is relatively small and further differs from R. i. indica by its black shoulder region, black tail except for the pale tip, and sometimes black rump.[5]^[8]
• R. i. dealbata: Found in southern
  albinos, rarely recorded in the Indian giant squirrel, which are whiter and have pink eyes unlike R. i. dealbata.^[12]
• R. i. maxima: From southern Western Ghats. It resembles a large R. i. centralis, but with more extensive black in the shoulder region and on the rump, and an almost entirely black tail (no pale tip). There is often a black dorsal stripe connecting the black shoulder region and rump. Another subspecies, R. i. bengalensis, has been described from southern Karnataka and northern
  intergrade and recent authorities often treat it as a synonym of R. i. maxima.^[11]

The Indian giant squirrel is an upper-canopy dwelling species, which rarely leaves the trees, and requires "tall profusely branched trees for the construction of nests."

The Indian giant squirrel lives alone or in pairs. They build large globular nests of twigs and leaves, placing them on thinner branches where large predators can't get to them. These nests become conspicuous in deciduous forests during the dry season. An individual may build several nests in a small area of forest which are used as sleeping quarters, with one being used as a nursery.^[citation needed]

Reproduction

Captive breeding of the Malayan giant squirrel, a close relative has indicated births in March, April, September and December. The young weigh 74.5 g at birth and have a length of 27.3 cm. In Canara, the Indian Giant Squirrel has been spotted with young in March.^{[citation needed]}

Recognition

The Indian giant squirrel (shekaru in

• Indian giant flying squirrel
• Seshachalam Hills biosphere

References

• Datta, Aparajita; Goyal, S. P. (1996), "Comparison of Forest Structure and Use by the Indian Giant Squirrel (Ratufa indica) in Two Riverine Forests of Central India", Biotropica, 28 (3): 394–399,
  JSTOR 2389203
• ISBN 0-19-562169-7
• Tritsch, Mark F. (2001), Wildlife of India, London: Harper Collins Publishers. Pp. 192,
  ISBN 0-00-711062-6

Further reading

• Blanford, W. T. (1897), "The large Indian squirrel (Sciurus indicus Erx.) and its local races and sub-species", Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 11 (2): 298–305
• S2CID 87414158, archived from the original
  (PDF) on 28 December 2019
• Moore, Joseph Curtis (1960), "Squirrel Geography of the Indian Subregion", Systematic Zoology, 9 (1): 1–17,
  JSTOR 2411536
• Somanathan, Hema; Mali, Subhash; Borges, Renee M. (2007), "Arboreal larder-hoarding in tropical Indian giant squirrel Ratufa indica", Écoscience, 14 (2): 165–169,
  doi:10.2980/1195-6860(2007)14[165:alitti]2.0.co;2

• Koli, Vijay Kumar; Bhatnagar, Chhaya; Mali, Dilip (2011). "Gliding behaviour of Indian giant flying squirrel Petaurista philippensis Elliot". Current Science. 100 (10): 1563–1568.
  JSTOR 24076679
  .
• Srinivas, V.; Venugopal, P. Dilip; Ram, Sunita (2008). "Site occupancy of the Indian giant squirrel Ratufa indica (Erxleben) in Kalakad–Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, India". Current Science. 95 (7): 889–894.
  JSTOR 24103186
  .
• Jathanna, Devcharan; Kumar, N. Samba; Karanth, K. Ullas (2008). "Measuring Indian giant squirrel (Ratufa indica) abundance in southern India using distance sampling" (PDF). Current Science. 95 (7): 885–888.
  JSTOR 24103185. Archived from the original
  (PDF) on 3 April 2019.

External links

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