Bhutan giant flying squirrel

The Bhutan giant flying squirrel (Petaurista nobilis), also called Gray's giant flying squirrel or the noble giant flying squirrel, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae and one of the largest flying squirrels. It lives in Himalayan forests, with a narrow range across central and eastern Nepal, Bhutan and the Indian states of Sikkim, northern West Bengal and parts of Arunachal Pradesh. Head and body measure roughly 35 to 69 cm and the tail 38 to 62 cm, so the whole animal can reach about 127 cm. It has a rich chestnut or maroon saddle set off against yellowish-buff shoulders and flanks, an orange-rufous gliding membrane and a black-tipped tail, and two subspecies are recognised, a western and an eastern one. John Edward Gray described it in 1842, but it was long confused with Hodgson's giant flying squirrel until the 1970s and 1980s. It is mostly nocturnal, glides between trees, inhabits subtropical, temperate and rhododendron forests, and is rated near threatened because of habitat loss and hunting.