The large treeshrew (''Tupaia tana'') is a

treeshrew The treeshrews (also called tree shrews or banxrings) are small mammals native to the tropical forests of South and Southeast Asia. They make up the entire order Scandentia (from Latin ''scandere'', "to climb"), which split into two families: the ...

species within the

Tupaiidae Tupaiidae is one of two families of treeshrews, the other family being Ptilocercidae. The family contains three living genera and 19 living species. The family name derives from ''tupai'', the Malay word for treeshrew and also for squirrel which ...

. It is native to

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. ...

and adjacent small islands, as well as in the lowlands and hills of

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 ...

.Payne, J., Francis, C. M., Phillipps, K. (1985). ''Field guide to mammals of Borneo''. The Sabah Society with World Wildlife Fund Malaysia.

Habitat

Large treeshrews are the most predominantly terrestrial of all treeshrew species. They are usually on the forest floor, the primary location for their foraging, although they spend part of their time in trees.Yasuma, S., Andau, M., Apin, L., Yu, F.T.Y., and Kimsui, L. (2003). ''Identification keys to the mammals of Borneo: Insectivora, Scandentia, Rodentia and Chiroptera''. Park Management Component BBEC Programme, Sabah. ''T. tana'' has been described as mainly terrestrial based on field observations and their morphological traits.Wells, K., Pfeiffer, M., Lakim, M. B., and Kalko, E. K. V. (2006). ''Movement trajectories and habitat partitioning of small mammals in logged and unlogged rain forest on Borneo''. Journal of Animal Ecology 75(5): 1212–1223.Sargis, E. J. (2001). ''A preliminary qualitative analysis of the axial skeleton of tupaiids (Mammalia, Scandentia): functional morphology and phylogenetic implications''. Journal of Zoology 253(4): 473–483. Large treeshrews are most abundant in primary

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

, but are also found in swamp forest and

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

. ''T. tana'' has many potential predators such as the

marbled cat The marbled cat (''Pardofelis marmorata'') is a small Felidae, wild cat native from the eastern Himalayas to Southeast Asia, where it inhabits forests up to an elevation of . As it is present in a large range, it has been listed as Near Threatene ...

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

, and

clouded leopard The clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa''), also called mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through Northeast India and Bhutan to mainland Southeast Asia into South China. It w ...

. Large treeshrews contribute to the maintenance of their lowland rainforest

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

by dispersing seeds.

Description

''Tupaia tana'' is slightly larger than the

common treeshrew The common treeshrew (''Tupaia glis'') is a small mammal in the treeshrew family Tupaiidae, and is native to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. It has been listed as Least Concern by IUCN as it remains common and displays some adaptabil ...

(''T. glis''). The dorsal fur is reddish brown, shading to nearly black at the rear. There is a black stripe running from the neck half to two-thirds of the way down the back until it disappears in the darker posterior fur. The body size measurements of this species are: * Head and body: * Tail: * Hind foot: * Weight: The snout is long: the distance from the center of the eye to the tip of the muzzle is more than in adults. ''Tupaia tana'' has sensitive hearing and large eyes that give it acute night vision but poor daylight vision.

Diet

Their diet consists of

earthworm An earthworm is a soil-dwelling terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. The term is the common name for the largest members of the class (or subclass, depending on the author) Oligochaeta. In classical systems, they we ...

s and

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

s such as centipedes, millipedes, and beetle larvae, with some fruit. Less favored arthropods include ants, beetles, spiders, cockroaches, and crickets.

Reproduction

The average age of reproductive maturity for both males and females is around one year of age. The female almost always gives birth to two

altricial Precocial species in birds and mammals are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. They are normally nidifugous, meaning that they leave the nest shortly after birth or hatching. Altricial ...

young. The fecundity of females is reduced in poor-quality territories or during periods of resource scarcity.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q657384 Treeshrews Mammals of Brunei Mammals of Indonesia Mammals of Malaysia Mammals of Borneo Mammals described in 1821 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Thomas Stamford Raffles