Amazon dwarf squirrel

The Amazon dwarf squirrel, Microsciurus flaviventer, is a small tree squirrel of the upper Amazon Basin in South America, found broadly west of the Purus and Rio Negro rivers in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. It is about the size of a chipmunk, with a head and body length of 12 to 16 cm, a tail of similar length and a weight of roughly 86 to 132 g. The fur runs from reddish to dull brown above and fades to yellow or grey beneath, with a pale yellow patch behind each ear. Its limbs are unusually long for a tree squirrel, which suits climbing large trunks and leaping across gaps. It lives mainly in evergreen tropical rainforest up to about 2,000 m, mostly in the understory, is diurnal and largely solitary, and feeds on arthropods, tree bark and fungi. Eight subspecies are generally recognised, although recent studies suggest four of them may be distinct species.