The cream-coloured giant squirrel or pale giant squirrel (''Ratufa affinis'') is a large

tree squirrel Tree squirrels are the members of the squirrel Family (biology), family (Sciuridae) commonly just referred to as "squirrels". They include more than 100 arboreal species native to all continents except Antarctica and Oceania. They do not form a ...

in the genus '' Ratufa'' found in forests in the Thai-Malay Peninsula,

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

(Indonesia),

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

(

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

, Indonesia and Malaysia) and nearby small islands. The species is

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...

and vulnerable to

habitat degradation Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

, and it has probably been

extirpated Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. Local extinctions mark a chan ...

in Singapore where the last sighting was in 1995. Reported sightings in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

in 1984 are considered to be dubious.

Description

The cream-coloured giant squirrel is one of the largest squirrels. It has a head–and–body length of , a tail length of and weighs . On average, adults of both sexes have a head–and–body length of about and tail length of , while females weight about and males . As suggested by its name, the cream-coloured giant squirrel is typically overall

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

to very light orangish-brown, while the underparts are whitish-cream. In Borneo and nearby small islands where it is the only ''Ratufa'' giant squirrel, some populations resemble cream-coloured giant squirrels from elsewhere, but most have upperparts that are medium-dark grey, sometimes almost black (contrasting strongly with the whitish-cream underparts), the flanks and thighs can have a reddish- buff tinge and the cheeks are orangish.

Habitat

The cream-coloured giant squirrel makes its home in lower

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures lapse rate, fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is ...

and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

s, frequenting

dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India, Indochina, Indo ...

trees. It rarely enters

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

s or settlements, preferring the forest. Although this squirrel primarily inhabits the upper

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

of the forest, it will at times come to ground to find food, or to cross gaps in the trees.

Behaviour

This species is diurnal, active from morning to evening. They live either in pairs or alone. When it is angry or shocked, it will give a loud sound that can be heard from afar. Although this squirrel often will make holes in trees for shelter, during the breeding season it constructs a large globular drey (or nest) in tree branches, roughly the size of an

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

’s aerie. The young are born and raised in this nest. The main dietary habits of ''Ratufa affinis'' are seeds, which it supplements with leaves, fruits, nuts, bark, insects, and eggs. The squirrel has a very short thumb that it uses to hold and control its food while feeding. Unlike other tree squirrels, the cream-coloured giant squirrel does not sit upright with its tail arched over its back while feeding; instead, it balances itself with its hind feet on a branch so that its hands are free to control its food. In this position the axis of the squirrels body is held at right angles to the support, with its head and forequarters on one side of the branch, and the tail as a counterweight on the other side.

Taxonomy

The table below lists the nine recognized subspecies of ''Ratufa affinis'', along with any synonyms associated with each subspecies:

References

Bibliography

*Nowak, Ronald M. ''Walker’s mammals of the world.'' Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. , OCLC: 39045218. Chapter: "Sciuridae: squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, and prairie dogs" in volume two.

External links

Pale giant squirrel (Ratufa affinis)
- Arkive.org page about this species, includes images. {{Taxonbar, from=Q1194191 Ratufa Rodents of Southeast Asia Rodents of Indonesia Rodents of Malaysia Rodents of Borneo Mammals of Brunei Mammals of Thailand Mammals described in 1821 Taxa named by Thomas Stamford Raffles Taxonomy articles created by Polbot