{{short description|Species of squirrel from Southeast Asia}} {{Speciesbox | name = Plantain squirrel | image = Squirrel--Bukit-Timah.jpg | image2 = Callosciurus notatus in Singapore Zoo.jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=iucn>{{cite iucn|author=Duckworth, J. W. |year= 2016 |title= ''Callosciurus notatus'' |errata= 2017 |article-number= e.T3600A115065317 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T3600A22254046.en |access-date=30 September 2023}}</ref> | genus = Callosciurus | species = notatus | authority = (Boddaert, 1785) | subdivision_ranks = Subspecies | subdivision_ref = <ref name="Thorington">{{cite book|last1=Thorington|first1=R.W. Jr.|last2=Hoffmann|first2=R.S.|year=2005|pages=754–818|editor1-last=Wilson|editor1-first=D.E.|editor2-last=Reeder|editor2-first=D.M|url=https://www.bucknell.edu/msw3|chapter=Family Sciuridae|chapter-url=https://www.departments.bucknell.edu/biology/resources/msw3/browse.asp?id=12400001|title=Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference|edition=3rd|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=0-8018-8221-4|oclc=26158608}}</ref> | subdivision = * ''C. n. notatus'' * ''C. n. diardii'' * ''C. n. vittatus'' * ''C. n. suffusus'' * ''C. n. miniatus'' |synonyms = |range_map = Callosciurus notatus distribution.png |range_map_caption = Distribution in red }}
The '''plantain squirrel''', '''oriental squirrel''' or '''tricoloured squirrel''' ('''''Callosciurus notatus''''') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand in a wide range of habitats: forests, mangroves, parks, gardens, and agricultural areas. Fruit farmers consider them to be pests. thumb|Plantain Squirrel thumb|Mating pair ==Description== Its body is about {{cvt|20-30|cm|in|0}} long with a similar-sized tail. Its weight can vary from {{cvt|160 to 259|g}}. It is greyish/brown with a chestnut belly and a black and white stripe on the side. It is very quick and agile in trees, able to jump a few metres between trees, and rarely wanders on the ground.
Like all rodents, it has two large upper and lower incisors.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Constantine |first=Jim |title=Callosciurus notatus (plantain squirrel) |url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Callosciurus_notatus/ |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=Animal Diversity Web |language=en}}</ref>
Its chestnut belly easily distinguishes it from the similar black-striped squirrel, which has a grey belly.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Callosciurus orestes (Borneo black-banded squirrel) {{!}} INFORMATION {{!}} Animal Diversity Web |url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Callosciurus_orestes/ |access-date=2026-02-06 |website=animaldiversity.org}}</ref>
== Behaviour == The plantain squirrel is diurnal. It is either solitary or social in small groups, wherein squirrels communicate with shrill chirps and chattering while showing off their tails. These high calls may be alarms responding to the presence of a predator. Different types of predators prompt different calls and elicit different responses in the squirrel. A snake alarm causes nearby squirrels to move towards the threat and mob it, while a raptor alarm causes the squirrels to freeze and take cover.
Plantain squirrels breed year round, but most often from April to June. They are promiscuous, with multiple males (usually 5 to 7) competing for a female in estrus within her home range. Two to four of the males end up mating with the female, during which time they interact by barking and chasing one another. After 40 days of gestation, the female gives birth to 1–4 (2 on average) blind and hairless young, each weighing some 16 grams. The mother houses her litter in a spherical nest of twigs and leaves high up in a tree or bush. After six weeks, the young squirrels will usually leave the nest.<ref name=":0" />
==Diet== Its diet consists mostly of leaves and fruits, but it also eats insects and bird eggs. It is known to break open twigs that contain ant larvae to eat them.<ref>Anja Leo, Damage to Macaranga ant-plants by a myrmecophagous squirrel (Callosciurus notatus, Rodentia, Sciuridae) in West Malaysia [http://www.biologie.uni-ulm.de/gtoe/abstracts/leofeder.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924082125/http://www.biologie.uni-ulm.de/gtoe/abstracts/leofeder.htm|date=2015-09-24}}</ref> It can eat fruits much bigger than itself, such as mangoes, jackfruit, or coconuts. ==Taxonomy== The genus name ''Callosciurus'' means "beautiful squirrel". Kloss's squirrel (''Callosciurus albescens'') is sometimes considered a subspecies.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *https://www.ecologyasia.com/verts/mammals/plantain_squirrel.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20110716084244/http://www.wildsingapore.per.sg/discovery/factsheet/squirrelplantain.htm
{{Commons|Callosciurus notatus}}
{{S. Callosciurinae nav}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q860705}}
notatus Category:Rodents of Indonesia Category:Rodents of Malaysia Category:Rodents of Singapore Category:Rodents of Thailand Category:Mammals described in 1785 Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Category:Rodents of Borneo Category:Taxa named by Pieter Boddaert
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