Furry giants

Counting the days to go on vacations, and hopefully being able to add some more wildlife photography to my portfolio! Meanwhile, browsing through my photos, came across my first sighting of a giant squirrel!

^{Grizzled giant squirrel - Ratufa macroura}

This is one of the squirrel species we can find in Sri Lanka. The most common one, the palm squirrel, that can be seen almost everywhere, is a lot smaller, less than half the size!

^{Indian palm squirrel - Funambulus palmarum}

The genus Ratufa comprises four species, that live in southeast Asia. And this particular species has three subspecies, with different colour patterns.

Found this one near Sigiryia. Some tourists left a piece of bread, and he was enjoying the snack; he didn't seem bothered at all to be serving as photography model.

But eventually finished his meal, and off he went, higher in the tree.

Giant tree squirrels spend most of their life in the trees, avoiding coming to the ground. I felt fortunate to see one! I was able to catch a glimpse of another one on the very same day, but didn't saw another one during the rest of my vacations.

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I do miss Asia; would love to get back to that wonderful continent; for the time being... guess I'll have to settle for the occasional portuguese squirrel! 😉

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