Everyone will have to look twice at these creatures if fate smiles on them.
We all understand exactly what a typical squirrel looks like, however, the Malabar Titanium squirrel is not like any other squirrel you have actually seen in the United States and Canada. You’ll likely have to look twice if you’re lucky enough to see someone in person who looks like John Koprowski, faculty and assistant director of the School of Natural Resources and Atmosphere at Arizona College, who thought the giant squirrel was a primate when he first discovered it in India in 2006 year. “These are giants!” Koprowski told The Dodo. These squirrels are twice the size of eastern gray squirrels and measure 36 inches from head to tail.
In addition to size, another distinctive quality of this species is the color of the coat. All over its body, bright shades of fur are clearly visible, consisting of brown, black, orange, purple, as well as maroon colors that are not usually found together on the fur of creatures. However, the squirrel’s coat colors not only serve to display, but actually help them survive in their natural environment.
“In the shaded undergrowth of a dense forest, uneven hues and dark hues are a great opportunity to avoid detection,” Koprowski said. “But when you see them in the sun, they show their “true colors as well as amazing hair.” Find out more about these magnificent and colorful giant squirrels by scrolling through the photos below.
This not-too-small, shy, and also evasive squirrel is the Malabar Titan Squirrel. It is twice the size of a normal squirrel, measures 36 inches from head to tail, and rarely leaves the treetops of Indian forests.
“These are giants!” Koprowski, a professor and associate director of the Institute for Natural Resources and the Environment at Arizona College, told The Dodo.
Their multi-colored hair is not only needed for screen purposes, but also helps them camouflage themselves in their natural habitat.
These large squirrels are domesticated canopy species. They almost never leave the trees, making them difficult to spot when you’re looking for them in the forests of India.
“They’re pretty timid”, Ka Yee Chou, a protein specialist and researcher at Hokkaido College, told The Dodo Pizza. “One of my friends who stayed in India shared with me that the best way to see these big squirrels is to climb a tree, stay very calm and wait for them to come out of their nest”.
The Malabar Titanium Squirrels are currently classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as “Least Concern” species, but this does not mean that their population is not declining. They can still be threatened if they are not protected from various threats.
“The real danger lies in the slow loss and destruction of the forest environment as people move, and as a result of climate change in the highlands”.
At present, we are very lucky to get a close-up view of the elusive huge squirrel. However, I’m sure many would still like to see this creature face to face in the future. It’s good that it’s never too late for us to take conscious conservation initiatives for stunning species like these Malabar giant squirrels.
