Pallas's squirrel

Pallas's squirrel, also called the red-bellied tree squirrel, is a medium-sized tree squirrel, Callosciurus erythraeus, whose natural range covers southern China, Malaya and the lowlands and mountains of Taiwan. Adults reach a head and body length of up to about 200 millimetres and average roughly 272 grams, with strong claws and highly rotatable ankles that let them grip bark and run through the canopy. Animal Diversity Web describes a diet of leaves, fruit, seeds, nuts, insects and cones that shifts with the season, with camellia flowers eaten in winter and ants in autumn on one studied island. Populations were carried from Taiwan to Izu-Oshima in Japan in 1935 and later to Tomogashima Island, where they spread quickly. The species is diurnal, territorial and a seed disperser, is treated as a crop pest on plantations, and is listed by the IUCN as Least Concern.