Oriental giant squirrel explained

Oriental giant squirrels are cat-sized tree squirrels from the genus Ratufa in the subfamily Ratufinae. They are a distinctive element of the fauna of south and southeast Asia.

Species

There are four living species of oriental giant squirrels:

Image Common name Scientific name Distribution
Ratufa affinisThai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra (Indonesia), Borneo (Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia)
Ratufa bicolorNorthern Bangladesh, northeast India, eastern Nepal, Bhutan, southern China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and western Indonesia (Java, Sumatra, Bali and nearby small islands)
Ratufa indicaIndia.
Ratufa macrouraSouthern India, Sri Lanka

In prehistoric times this lineage was more widespread. For example, animals very similar to Ratufa and possibly belonging to this genus, at least belonging to the Ratufinae, were part of the early Langhian (Middle Miocene, some 16–15.2 million years ago) Hambach fauna of Germany.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Gee, Carole T.. Sander, P. Martin. Petzelberger, Bianka E .M.. 2003. A Miocene rodent nut cache in coastal dunes of the Lower Rhine Embayment, Germany. Palaeontology. 46. 6. 1133–1149. 10.1046/j.0031-0239.2003.00337.x. free.