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Funambulus pennantiinorthern palm squirrel

By Janeen Stalder

Ge­o­graphic Range

North­ern palm squir­rels are na­tive to India, Iran, Nepal, and Pak­istan, but are now also found in Afghanistan. They are wide­spread through­out these areas. (Nameer and Molur, 2008; Nowak, 1999)

Habi­tat

North­ern palm squir­rels are wide­spread and flex­i­ble in their habi­tat pref­er­ences. Typ­i­cally liv­ing in el­e­va­tions below 4,000 m, these an­i­mals have been found in grass­lands, scrub­lands, plan­ta­tions, and trop­i­cal to sub­trop­i­cal dry de­cid­u­ous forests. (Nameer and Molur, 2008; Nowak, 1999)

  • Range elevation
    0 to 4000 m
    0.00 to 13123.36 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Adult weight is about 147 g. Body length ranges from 230 to 356 mm, in­clud­ing the tail. The tail alone makes up about half of the total body length. There is lit­tle known about the meta­bolic rate of north­ern palm squir­rels. Some key phys­i­cal fea­tures in­clude the stripes on the back. There are typ­i­cally 3 lightly col­ored stripes on the back. The top coat color ranges from gray­ish brown to al­most black, while the head is usu­ally gray­ish to red­dish brown. (Nameer and Molur, 2008; Nowak, 1999; Cor­bet and Hill, 1992; Moore and Tate, 1965; Nameer and Molur, 2008; Nowak, 1999)

  • Average mass
    147.7 g
    5.21 oz
  • Range length
    230 to 356 mm
    9.06 to 14.02 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

North­ern palm squir­rels are gre­gar­i­ous. Up to 10 an­i­mals have been seen in one tree at a time. Typ­i­cally, mul­ti­ple males fight over one fe­male. The dom­i­nant male then mates with the fe­male and leaves her within a cou­ple of days. Breed­ing oc­curs sev­eral times a year, usu­ally with dif­fer­ent part­ners each time. (Nowak, 1999)

North­ern palm squir­rels are able to re­pro­duce through­out most, if not all, of the year. Fe­males have 2 to 3 lit­ters yearly. Lit­ter sizes range from 1 to 5, with 3 being the norm. Fe­males have a ges­ta­tion pe­riod of 40 to 45 days. Birth mass of north­ern palm squir­rels is typ­i­cally about 7 g. The mother will nurse her young for about 2 months. Males and fe­males reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity be­tween 6 and 11 months of age. Males ma­ture closer to about 10 months, while fe­males tend to reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity at around 7 to 8 months of age. (Nameer and Molur, 2008; Nowak, 1999)

  • Breeding interval
    Northern palm squirrels breed 2 to 3 times per year. Usually, matings are separated by 4 to 5 months.
  • Breeding season
    Mating can occur throughout the entire year. However, March to April and July to September are the times when most breeding occurs.
  • Range number of offspring
    1 to 5
  • Range gestation period
    40 to 45 days
  • Average weaning age
    2 months
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    8 months
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
    10 months

Males do not help with the care of young and tend to leave the fe­male 1 to 2 days after mat­ing with her. Fe­male in­vest heav­ily in young by build­ing a large nest for them and nurs­ing and pro­tect­ing them for about 2 months. (Nowak, 1999)

  • Parental Investment
  • altricial
  • pre-fertilization
    • provisioning
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-hatching/birth
    • provisioning
      • female
    • protecting
      • female
  • pre-weaning/fledging
    • provisioning
      • female
    • protecting
      • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Lit­tle is known about the max­i­mum or ex­pected lifes­pan of north­ern palm squir­rels. How­ever, one in­di­vid­ual lived for nearly 5 years in cap­tiv­ity and was then re­leased into the wild at the age of 6 to 7 years old. (Nowak, 1999)

Be­hav­ior

North­ern palm squir­rels are gre­gar­i­ous, liv­ing with up to 10 other in­di­vid­u­als in the same tree. They are very ac­tive an­i­mals, spend­ing much of their day for­ag­ing for food. They are mostly ar­bo­real but it is fairly com­mon to see these an­i­mals for­ag­ing on the ground. Most ac­tiv­ity, in­clud­ing for­ag­ing, breed­ing, play­ing, etc. oc­curs dur­ing day­light. (Nowak, 1999)

Home Range

Males typ­i­cally have larger home ranges of about 0.21 ha, fe­males have home ranges of around 0.15 ha. (Nowak, 1999)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

North­ern palm squir­rels use sight, touch, smell, and acoustics to per­ceive their en­vi­ron­ment. They use sight, touch, and smell for find­ing food. Sounds and vi­sual dis­plays are used in in­traspe­cific com­mu­ni­ca­tion. North­ern palm squir­rels are known for their repet­i­tive, shrill, bird-like calls. Use of scent mark­ing or pheromones is not re­ported in the lit­er­a­ture. (Mitchell, 1979)

Food Habits

North­ern palm squir­rels are her­biv­o­rous and om­niv­o­rous. They typ­i­cally feed on a wide va­ri­ety of foods in­clud­ing seeds, nuts, buds, young bark, leaves, in­sects, flow­ers, and grubs. They have also been known to eat baby birds. They feed both in trees and on the ground. They store food for later use. (Nowak, 1999)

  • Animal Foods
  • birds
  • insects
  • Plant Foods
  • leaves
  • wood, bark, or stems
  • seeds, grains, and nuts
  • fruit
  • flowers

Pre­da­tion

Noth­ing is known about pre­da­tion on north­ern palm squir­rels, but golden ea­gles and other rap­tors are found in the same re­gion and are likely preda­tors of these squir­rels. Large snakes and other ter­res­trial preda­tors may also prey on north­ern palm squir­rels.

  • Anti-predator Adaptations
  • cryptic

Ecosys­tem Roles

Noth­ing is known about the role that north­ern palm squir­rels play in the ecosys­tem. How­ever, they prob­a­bly play an im­por­tant role in the spread of seeds, they pro­vide food for birds of prey, and they may pol­li­nate some plants.

  • Ecosystem Impact
  • disperses seeds
  • pollinates

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

North­ern palm squir­rels have a spe­cial lik­ing for the nec­tar of silky oaks (Gre­vil­lea ro­busta) and while ac­quir­ing it be­come cov­ered in the pow­dery pollen of these plants. They may play a role in the pol­li­na­tion of these trees, which are non-na­tive in the range of north­ern palm squir­rels. Also, they may play a role in the pol­li­na­tion and seed dis­per­sal of plan­ta­tion trees, where they are com­mon. North­ern palm squir­rels could be hunted and used as a food source for hu­mans if needed. (Nowak, 1999)

  • Positive Impacts
  • food
  • pollinates crops

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

North­ern palm squir­rels have a ten­dency to live on plan­ta­tions and around farm lands, so they can be a pest when it comes to eat­ing buds and seeds of food pro­duc­ing plants. They are also known to eat cocoa pods and can dam­age twigs of im­por­tant plants. (Nowak, 1999)

  • Negative Impacts
  • crop pest

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

North­ern palm squir­rels are listed by the IUCN Red List as Least Con­cern. This is likely due to their wide dis­tri­b­u­tion and abil­ity to eas­ily adapt to dis­turbed habi­tats. There also seem to be large pop­u­la­tions of north­ern palm squir­rels in pro­tected areas. There­fore, there cur­rently seems to be lit­tle threat to this species. (Nameer and Molur, 2008)

Con­trib­u­tors

Ja­neen Stalder (au­thor), Michi­gan State Uni­ver­sity, Bar­bara Lun­dri­gan (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Michi­gan State Uni­ver­sity, Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Glossary

Palearctic

living in the northern part of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.

World Map

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

agricultural

living in landscapes dominated by human agriculture.

altricial

young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.

arboreal

Referring to an animal that lives in trees; tree-climbing.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

cryptic

having markings, coloration, shapes, or other features that cause an animal to be camouflaged in its natural environment; being difficult to see or otherwise detect.

diurnal
  1. active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

fertilization

union of egg and spermatozoan

food

A substance that provides both nutrients and energy to a living thing.

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

introduced

referring to animal species that have been transported to and established populations in regions outside of their natural range, usually through human action.

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

omnivore

an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals

oriental

found in the oriental region of the world. In other words, India and southeast Asia.

World Map

polygynandrous

the kind of polygamy in which a female pairs with several males, each of which also pairs with several different females.

rainforest

rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.

scrub forest

scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons.

sedentary

remains in the same area

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

social

associates with others of its species; forms social groups.

stores or caches food

places a food item in a special place to be eaten later. Also called "hoarding"

suburban

living in residential areas on the outskirts of large cities or towns.

tactile

uses touch to communicate

terrestrial

Living on the ground.

tropical

the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.

tropical savanna and grassland

A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.

savanna

A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.

temperate grassland

A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.

urban

living in cities and large towns, landscapes dominated by human structures and activity.

visual

uses sight to communicate

viviparous

reproduction in which fertilization and development take place within the female body and the developing embryo derives nourishment from the female.

year-round breeding

breeding takes place throughout the year

Ref­er­ences

Cor­bet, G., J. Hill. 1992. The Mam­mals of the In­do­ma­layan Re­gion: A Sys­tem­atic Re­view. USA: Ox­ford Uni­ver­sity Press.

Mitchell, R. 1979. The sci­urid ro­dents (Ro­den­tia: Sci­uri­dae) of Nepal. J. Asian Ecol­ogy, 1: 21-28.

Moore, J., G. Tate. 1965. A study of the di­ur­nal squir­rels, Sci­uri­nae, of the In­dian and In­dochi­nese sub­re­gions. Fiel­diana Zo­ol­ogy, 48: 1-351.

Nameer, P., S. Molur. 2008. "Fu­nam­bu­lus pen­nan­tii" (On-line). Ac­cessed March 16, 2009 at http://​www.​iucnredlist.​org/​details/​8702.

Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Mam­mals of the World. Bal­ti­more: Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.

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Classification

Classification

  • Kingdom Animalia animals
  • Phylum Chordata chordates
  • Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates
  • Class Mammalia mammals
  • Order Rodentia rodents
  • Family Sciuridae squirrels
  • Genus Funambulus palm squirrels
  • Species Funambulus pennantii northern palm squirrel