Indian giant squirrel

The Indian giant squirrel (Ratufa indica) is one of the largest tree squirrels and is found only in peninsular India. It lives high in the canopy of moist tropical forests, rarely leaving the trees and leaping 6 metres or more from one to the next, and it shelters in tree holes and in large nests built in the branches. Adults have a body length of 254 to 457 millimetres, a tail about as long again, and weigh roughly 1.5 to 2 kilograms. The back ranges from deep red to brown and the underparts are white, and the broad paws carry large claws for gripping bark. The species is mostly solitary, wary and active during the day, and it eats fruit, flowers, nuts, bark, bird eggs and insects, dispersing the seeds of the plants it consumes. Deforestation is reducing and fragmenting its range. It is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN and is in CITES Appendix II.