Ordinary pointed squirrel
| Ordinary pointed squirrel | ||||||||||||
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Common pointed squirrel ( Tupaia glis ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Tupaia glis | ||||||||||||
| ( Diard , 1820) |
The common pointed squirrel or common tupaja ( Tupaia glis ) is a species of mammal belonging to the family of the pointed squirrel (Tupaiidae). It is one of the best-known and best-researched representatives of this group.
In the Red List of Endangered Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN, the common pointed squirrel is listed as Least Concern .
features
With a head body length of around 19 centimeters and a weight of around 140 grams, the common pointed squirrel is one of the medium-sized representatives of its family. Its fur is brownish on the top and reddish-orange on the underside. Its bushy tail is about as long as the body. The head is characterized by an elongated snout and relatively small ears and eyes. The feet each have five toes that end in sharp claws suitable for climbing.
Distribution and habitat
Common tree shrews are south of 10 north latitude in southern Thailand on the Malay Peninsula and on this seaside Islands to Singapore before. Pointed squirrels on Sumatra , on Bangka , in the west of Java and in the south of Borneo , which were assigned to the common pointed squirrel up to 2013, are now considered to be separate species ( T. discolor on Bangka, T. ferruginea on Sumatra, T. hypochrysa im West of Java and T. saltanaa in south Borneo).
Common pointed squirrels live primarily in original tropical rainforests with wing fruit plants , but have also been spotted in secondary forests , plantations , orchards and in the vicinity of settlements.
Way of life
The original habitat of these animals are tropical forests, but they can now also be found in plantations and sometimes even in gardens. They are active during the day, they spend the night in nests hidden in tree roots or hollow tree trunks in order to search for food during the day. Common shrews are primarily ground dwellers, sometimes they climb trees to forage.
There are different statements about the social behavior of these animals. They are often referred to as a monogamous species, in which the partners live together in long-term relationships and inhabit a common territory, which they mark with the secretion of their scent glands. Other observations suggest that the territory of a male overlaps that of several females, with the territories of the males being larger than those of the females. It is still unclear whether both ways of life occur or whether the observations are incorrect.
food
Common shrews are omnivores. Their menu includes insects and small vertebrates as well as seeds, fruits and leaves. They often consume their food in a squirrel-like manner: they sit on their hind legs and hold the food they find with their front paws.
Reproduction
The peak of the mating season is between February and June, although they can reproduce all year round. The gestation period is between six and eight weeks, after which one to three young animals are born, which are initially naked and blind. As with most pointed squirrels, the rare suckling can be observed: the young animals are housed in their own nest and the mother only comes by every two days to suckle them. Nevertheless, young animals grow very quickly due to the high-fat milk, they are weaned after five weeks and sexually mature at three to four months.
While their life expectancy in the wild is likely to be around two to three years, they can live up to twelve years in human care.
threat
In some regions they are considered a plague because they sometimes stay in plantations and eat fruit and are persecuted accordingly. Since their meat is considered inedible, they do not have to fear persecution from this side. Compared to other species of pointed squirrel, they are considered common.
natural reserve
Tupaia glis is listed in Appendix II of the Washington Convention on Endangered Species .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Tupaia glis in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2017. Posted by: Sargis, E. & Kennerley, R., 2017. Accessed July 27, 2018th
- ↑ Eric J. Sargis, Neal Woodman, Aspen T. Reese, Link E. Olson: Using hand proportions to test taxonomic boundaries within the Tupaia glis species complex (Scandentia, Tupaiidae). Journal of Mammalogy 94 (1): 183-201, February 2013 DOI: 10.2307 / 23488610
- ↑ Parr, JWK (2003) Large Mammals of Thailand. Sarakadee Press, Bangkok, Thailand.