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Giant Squirrel having a feast A large squirrel enjoying the fruits of the Spiky Fig (Ficus Cucurbitina). Looks like this guy knows how to carefully remove the spiky skin of the fruit. <br /> <br /> This was part of a few days observation made by 1StopBorneo Wildlife team to document the ecological importance of this fig tree as a suitable candidate for reforestation projects.<br /> <br /> Cream-coloured giant squirrel,Geotagged,Malaysia,Ratufa affinis Click/tap to enlarge PromotedSpecies introCountry intro

Giant Squirrel having a feast

A large squirrel enjoying the fruits of the Spiky Fig (Ficus Cucurbitina). Looks like this guy knows how to carefully remove the spiky skin of the fruit.

This was part of a few days observation made by 1StopBorneo Wildlife team to document the ecological importance of this fig tree as a suitable candidate for reforestation projects.

    comments (3)

  1. View _ChunXingWong_'s profile
    _ChunXingWong_
    Lion
    View Lion class
    The spiky fig it is eating:

    Spiky Fig Ficus Cucurbitina, the Spiky Fig, is definitely the world's spikiest fig. Many fig fruits are hairy but none has evolved to have really rigid and sharp hairs like this fig. These sharp hairs are strong and sharp enough to pierce a human skin. Probably evolved this way to prevent primates from eating it and only birds with hard beaks can feed and disperse it. Fruits ripen light yellow - orange - dark red - maroonish black. These fruits high up in the canopy where the fig tree grows on another host tree. These fruits were growing about 20m high. We were lucky to find it at its fruiting apex, and after several days, the fruit numbers have reduced greatly.<br /> <br /> Watching this fig tree is one of the best experience for my team (1StopBorneo Wildlife). We are trying to find out which is the most beneficial fig species for wildlife and this fig is definitely one of the best. Lots of animals visited it in both day and night. There are always animals every time we visited the tree.<br /> Ficus Cucurbitina,Geotagged,Malaysia,Summer
     Posted 4 years ago
  2. View Ferdy Christant's profile
    Ferdy Christant
    Lion
    View Lion class
    Really valuable species intro, and how cool that you found it feeding on one of your study subjects. Posted 4 years ago
    1. View _ChunXingWong_'s profile
      _ChunXingWong_
      Lion
      View Lion class
      Nice addition indeed. Large mammals like wildcats are giant squirrels are thought be easier to see but turns out it is just the opposite in Borneo where they are rarer than their smaller counsins. Posted 4 years ago, modified 4 years ago

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The Cream-coloured giant squirrel

The cream-coloured giant squirrel or pale giant squirrel is a large tree squirrel in the genus "Ratufa" found in forests in the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo and nearby small islands. There have been no sightings in Singapore since 1995 and it is believed to be extinct. Reported sightings in Vietnam in 1984 are considered to be dubious.

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Similar species: Rodents
Species identified by _ChunXingWong_
View _ChunXingWong_'s profile

By _ChunXingWong_

Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike
Uploaded Nov 24, 2020. Captured in Unnamed Road, 89100 Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysia.
country flag of Malaysia Explore Malaysia 6,517 3,884 0

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