Prevost's Squirrel
Callosciurus prevostii

All about the Prevost’s Squirrel

The Prevost's squirrel is a strikingly colored animal with black, white, and reddish-brown bands along the entire length of its body. The coloring helps in camouflaging it from predators. Equipped with a long tail, strong feet, and sharp claws, the Prevost's squirrel is well adapted for life in the trees making it an arboreal species. The tail serves as a balance when the squirrel runs and climbs trees and as a rudder when it jumps from tree to tree. The tail is also used as a flag to communicate social signals and is wrapped around the squirrel when the animal sleeps. Males and females are similar to one another (monomorphous) and are about a foot long with long tails.

Diet/ Habitat/ Range

Prevost's squirrels are native to Asia and are found in dense tropical rainforests that spread from Thailand through Malaysia to Brunei and Indonesia.

Like other squirrels, Prevost's squirrels are omnivorous, feeding on flowers, buds, nuts, eggs, soft fruits, berries, coconuts, and insects (ants, termites, and beetles).

Behavior

Prevost's squirrels are active during the day (diurnal) and, since they are tree squirrels, they are arboreal and live in trees in, which they build nests for resting. The nests are built from twigs, grass, bark, leaves, and sticks. The nests protect the young and keep them warm. They are often seen using tree hollows for nesting sites and breeding. They are territorial in nature and scent marks their territorial boundaries to protect their space from competition. Tree squirrels are generally solitary by nature and follow dominance hierarchies when they meet other squirrels while feeding or foraging together. Prevost squirrels have cheek pouches that help them store food for short periods of time. They are known to use several feeding strategies. Most often, they hide their food either underground or in tree hollows to use as stores when food is in short supply. Prevost's squirrels, like other rodents, have very long and well-built incisors, which they use to chew hard nut shells. They emit a variety of vocalizations including squeaks, trills, clucks, moans, buzzes, barks, and chirps.

Reproduction

Prevost's squirrels breed through the year peaking in summer months. While males sexually mature when they are about a year old, females mature when they are six to eight months old. Reproductive behavior is initiated when several males chase a female when she becomes sexually receptive and is ready to breed. Males mate with several females throughout the year. Females have two to three young at any given time. The gestation period usually lasts for seven weeks. The young are born helpless and are dependent on their mothers until they wean at around six to 10 weeks of age. Only female Prevost’s squirrels take care of young.

Conservation/Status

The Prevost's squirrel is widespread throughout its range and is not currently considered a species of concern. Even so, their habitat range is very restricted and is known to be diminishing at an alarming rate. A substantial proportion of their natural habitat has been converted into private plantations and this conversion continues along the border of their habitat range. These squirrels are also illegally hunted and captured for the pet trade.