Jungle palm squirrel

The jungle palm squirrel (Funambulus tristriatus), also called the Western Ghats squirrel, is a rodent in the squirrel family Sciuridae and the largest species of its genus, Funambulus. It is native to the Western Ghats of southwest India and has also been observed in Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It lives in moist deciduous forest, evergreen rainforest, pasture and cardamom, tea and coffee plantations at elevations of 700 to 2100 metres. Head and body length runs from 115 to 178 millimetres, with a tail about as long, and the dark body carries three lightly colored stripes along the back. It is a diurnal, mostly arboreal omnivore that eats plant material such as coconut palm flowers, cacao and fruit, and also insects, and both sexes build nests of fibrous material on tree branches. Breeding goes on all year, with litters averaging 2.6 young. The IUCN lists the species as least concern, although it can be a crop pest.