Northern palm squirrel or Five-striped palm squirrel is a member of rodent family Sciuridae.

Length: Ranging from 23 cm  to 35.6 cm (including tail).

Weight: About 147 gm.

Key physical features: There are typically three stripes on the back.The top coat is grayish brown to black, while the head is usually grayish to reddish brown.

Reproduction & Breeding: Multiple male fight for one female.The winner or the dominant one then mates with the female. Breeding occurs in different time throughout most of the year but the partner changes each time. Females have 2-3 litters each year. Female have 40-45 days of gestation period. At birth the litters have weight of about 7 gm. The young will be with their mother for about 2 months. At 6- 11 months of age both male and female reach sexual maturity.

Behavior: They live with up to 10 individuals in a single tree. Mostly arboreal but they are often seen foraging on the ground for food. Foraging, breeding, playing and most behavior are seen being occurred in daylight.

Communication and perception: They use touch, sound, smell and sight.For finding food, they use sight, smell and touch. They use sound and physical gestures for communication. They are well known for their repetitive, shrill, bird-like calls.

Food habits: Northern palm squirrels are herbivores and omnivores. They usually feed on  seeds, nuts, buds, young bark, leaves, insects, flowers and grubs. They also eat baby birds sometimes. Feed on ground and also in trees. They also store food for further use.

Distribution: Northern palm squirrel are native to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Iran and also in Afghanistan.It is usually found in tropical and subtropical dry deciduous forest, montane forests,  scrub lands, plantations, grasslands, arable land, rural gardens and urban areas.

(Shaiful Islam Sourav)

• Wikipedia: Northern palm squirrel
• Arkive.org: Five-striped palm squirrel
• IUCN: Funambulus pennantii
• Mohammad Ali Reza Khan, Wildlife of Bangladesh

• Kawsar Mostafa
• Ikbal H. Babu
• Shaiful Islam Sourav