African pygmy squirrel

The African pygmy squirrel (Myosciurus pumilio) is a very small tree squirrel of the rodent family Sciuridae and the only member of its genus, Myosciurus. It lives in the tropical rainforests of Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Together with the least pygmy squirrel of Asia it is the smallest squirrel in the world, with a total length of about 12 to 14 cm and a weight of only 15 to 18 g, less than a typical house mouse. The animal is diurnal and arboreal, keeps mostly to the lower canopy within about five metres of the ground, and spends much of its day scraping small pieces of bark from trunks and branches, a habit that lets it move as easily beneath a branch as on top of it. Its coat is buffy brown above and pale olive white below, with white borders on the eyes and rounded ears. It is not considered threatened, though it probably declines locally as forest is lost.