Hairy-footed flying squirrel

The hairy-footed flying squirrel, Belomys pearsonii, is a flying squirrel of the mountains of the eastern Himalaya, Southeast Asia, southern China and the island of Taiwan, living at elevations of 800 to 2,400 metres above sea level. Its fur is red-brown above and white below, the margins of the eyelids are dark brown, the sides of the face are pale rufous and the moderately large, rounded ears are darker towards the tips. Its most characteristic feature is the long hair on the feet, which covers even the claws and protects them against the cold at altitude. The body is about 22 cm long with a tail of another 13 cm. The species is named after John Thomas Pearson and has four subspecies, one of them endemic to Taiwan. It is related to the complex-toothed flying squirrel, though it is now generally accepted as a distinct genus.