Did It Hurt When You Fell From Heaven?

Saw this couple yesterday evening at an overgrown patch in the garden,apparently in love.

Three-Striped Palm Squirrel/Funambulus palmarum/තුන්ඉරි ෙල්නා

Mmmm.......!!!!!!!!...

                                                   Three-Striped Palm Squirrel/Funambulus palmarum/ තුන්ඉරි ෙල්නා

The Giant....................

I took these shots as I was leaving for work this morning, just a few meters away from home. These big fluffy fellows are abundant in the neighborhood,  though not very easy to photograph. These Grizzled Giant Squirrels/Ratufa macroura/දඩුෙල්නා grow as big as a domestic cat,roughly. They cause considerable  destruction to the garden crops around, fruits and coconut that is, and are considered pests by everybody. But they have no choice, being stranded in a block of land bordered by a highway, a railway line and a paddy field,  with homes scattered over and  a two abandoned gardens. Luckily this particular land is well wooded and the human occupants satisfy by chasing the squirrels away from their garden when ever they can  and tolerating the inevitable loss of crops. But in some places, specially where people grow fruits and coconuts for a living, the situation is very different, I know that for a fact!

 

Grizzled Giant Squirrel (Ratufa macroura) Aka Dandulena, A Tricky Customer

I've finally got one of these fluffy fellows on a video after much waiting and struggle, but the result is still not very good. Not that they are a rare sight where I live, they  just are more vary of us humans and prefer to be higher up  in the trees than Three -Stripped Palm Squirrels, and none of them have ever come down to my bird feeders.  

Grizzled Giant Squirrel is not as many in population as Three -Stripped Palm Squirrel, nor is as widely spread.  However, they are more of a nuisance for fruit gardeners and farmers where ever they are found. They love fruits and nuts, and can gnaw right through the shell of a coconut!   I've always observed as them to be solitary, and much less active than Palm Squirrels. Learn more.........  

Squirral Enjoying Titbits Off My Bird Feeder

I've recorded this video with a Three-stripped Palm squirrel eating some stuff off my bird feeder. These little brats can recognize my whistle now, as I always whistle filling up the feeder every morning.

Three-Striped Palm Squirrel (Funambulus palmarum)

These are the most common squirrels in Sri Lanka.  They are very fond of fruits and nuts as well as food scraps and crumbs people throw, so always come near households. There are some regulars of  their kind who claim the most of what I put in my bird feeder.

 Very active and swift animals, they  have a very loud, high pitched, and rapid call that goes "tin, tin, tin".




The females build soft and fluffy nests on tree branches using fiber from dead leaves and grass, etc. Normally there is an average of three offspring at a time.

These squirrels are easily tamed. If people in a particular household give then food regularly, they will probably allow themselves to be hand-fed and nest some where in the house too, as in my old place. I used to raise the orphaned juveniles and release them as they grew up. They always hanged close and let me pet them.     

Their main predators are domestic cats and Rat Snakes. Crows snatch juveniles from the nests too.      Read more.............