Caucasian squirrel

The Caucasian squirrel (Sciurus anomalus), also called the Persian squirrel, is a tree squirrel of the genus Sciurus that lives in temperate broadleaf and mixed forests of south-western Asia. Its range runs from Turkey and the islands of Gokceada and Lesbos in the west to Iran in the southeast and as far south as Israel and Jordan, and it is the only native Sciurus of that wider region. It measures 32 to 36 cm in total length including a 13 to 18 cm tail and weighs 250 to 410 g, with greyish brown to pale grey upper fur, rusty to yellowish underparts and a yellow brown to deep red tail. It is diurnal and mostly solitary, eats nuts, seeds, shoots and buds, especially oak and pine seeds, and caches food in tree cavities or soil. Hunting is banned and the species is rated Least Concern, although declines have been noted in the Levant, and it is hunted for food and fur and sometimes treated as an orchard pest.