Tree Squirrel

[ozimoron]

Many evenings, just on sunset, I see a brown squirrel running along the power lines outside my condo building. They are called กระรอก (Grarok) by the locals. The guard told me they eat fruit.

 

Today, my friend was visiting me and she showed me a video of her pet sugar glider. She called it a กระรอก as well but the two animals are not related. The sugar glider she had comes from eastern Australia and is a cousin of the kangaroo and the koala. It isn't endemic in Thailand but is apparently a very popular pet here. She said it eats a wide variety of food and knew that chocolate is deadly for these animals, as it is for kangaroos.

 

 

[DavisH]

That photo looks like a shrew. I guess Thais call them "squirrels", but they are different. There are also squirrels here

You can check out this site. 

https://www.thainationalparks.com/list-of-mammals-of-thailand

[ozimoron]

29 minutes ago, DavisH said:

That photo looks like a shrew. I guess Thais call them "squirrels", but they are different. There are also squirrels here

You can check out this site. 

https://www.thainationalparks.com/list-of-mammals-of-thailand

You might be right but I'm going with Pallas's squirrel, Callosciurus erythraeus.

 

Most of the shrews don't live around Pattaya except one and it's mainly olive in colour. This one is distinctly brown. I'd like to know what it really is.

 

The Northern Treeshrew Tupaia belangeri, possibly the best cabdidate is also mainly terrestial, Good data is hard to find but the shrews seem to be smaller and mainly insectivorious. I was told the ones outside my condo eat mainly fruit.

 

https://www.thainationalparks.com/species/pallass-squirrel

 

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by ozimoron

[ozimoron]

 

[jak2002003]

OP your photo is a tree shrew not a squirrel.  You van tell by the long snout and long mouth. 

 

It's a northern treeshrew (Tupaia belangeri). 

 

They vary in colour.  They do eat fruit and also insects etc.  

[scubascuba3]

Loads of these squirrels, brown, black, white on Pratumnak mountain loop

[ozimoron]

6 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

OP your photo is a tree shrew not a squirrel.  You van tell by the long snout and long mouth. 

 

It's a northern treeshrew (Tupaia belangeri). 

 

They vary in colour.  They do eat fruit and also insects etc.  

The photo is not necessarily the animal.

[BritManToo]

It's a tree shrew.

Omnivore version of a squirrel.

Will eat anything it can get in it's mouth, nuts, birds eggs, chicks, etc.

We have loads in our back garden, they run up and own the wall.

[KhunLA]

If you lived down south, you could compromise, and go with ????

 

Shrew-faced squirrel - Rhinosciurus laticaudatus

Edited January 2, 2023 by KhunLA

[ozimoron]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

It's a tree shrew.

Omnivore version of a squirrel.

Will eat anything it can get in it's mouth, nuts, birds eggs, chicks, etc.

We have loads in our back garden, they run up and own the wall.

Arboreal animals are more likely to be squirrels from what I read. Shrews will climb low trees but tend to be mainly terrestrial I think. These run along power lines. I'm waiting for someone who knows to give it's Linnaeus name. It could be one of several species but there seems to be a common species around Pattaya. Until recently there was a large tree in Bukhao soi 15 next door to Grand Ave where an adult pair lived but the tree was cut down.

[ozimoron]

1 minute ago, KhunLA said:

If you lived down south, you could compromise, and go with 

 

Shrew-faced squirrel - Rhinosciurus laticaudatus

Most of the shrews I looked up didn't come from the Pattaya area. This one doesn't have a bushy tail like that. It's long and less puffy looking. The animal is about the size of a cat only much slimmer. The cats around here are well fed.

[jak2002003]

2 hours ago, ozimoron said:

Arboreal animals are more likely to be squirrels from what I read. Shrews will climb low trees but tend to be mainly terrestrial I think. These run along power lines. I'm waiting for someone who knows to give it's Linnaeus name. It could be one of several species but there seems to be a common species around Pattaya. Until recently there was a large tree in Bukhao soi 15 next door to Grand Ave where an adult pair lived but the tree was cut down.

So get a photo of it for us to see, as you say the photo you posted is not the animal you saw, right? 

 

BTW tree shrews are mostly aboreal and one of the thing they are commonly seen doing is running along phone wires.  

 

The most common squirrel to see here in build up areas is the variable squirrel

  As you can guess by the name it varies a lot in colour from black to almost white and all shades between.  It's much larger than the tree shrew...so maybe that is what you are seeing.  But it does have a bushy tail, similar to the America grey squirrel. They also make loud barking kind of call. 

[ozimoron]

Just now, jak2002003 said:

So get a photo of it for us to see, as you say the photo you posted is not the animal you saw, right? 

How? I see it in the evening running very fast along power lines. A photo would have insufficient detail to ID it.

 

Just now, jak2002003 said:

 

BTW tree shrews are mostly aboreal and one of the thing they are commonly seen doing is running along phone wires.  

The ones I researched which are arboreal weren't endemic to Pattaya.

 

Just now, jak2002003 said:

 

The most common squirrel to see here in build up areas is the variable squirrel

  As you can guess by the name it varies a lot in colour from black to almost white and all shades between.  It's much larger than the tree shrew...so maybe that is what you are seeing.  But it does have a bushy tail, similar to the America grey squirrel. They also make loud barking kind of call. 

I believe this is true. It does have a bushy tail but nowhere near as bushy as some of them and the shrews. I have never heard them call. I understand that's a defense thing, mainly against snakes.

[KhaoNiaw]

 

I'd go with jak's post above. If it's similar to the original picture it's a tree shrew. Loads of them around our condo in the middle of Bangkok. See them in the trees, running along the walls and the power wires but they also come down and forage on some of the grassy areas.
The squirrels have much bushier tails than tree shrews and grow bigger. We've got some really nice looking squirrels around too, my favourites being a dark grey and white and one that's quite a deep red with white patches.

[ozimoron]

1 minute ago, KhaoNiaw said:

 

I'd go with jak's post above. If it's similar to the original picture it's a tree shrew. Loads of them around our condo in the middle of Bangkok. See them in the trees, running along the walls and the power wires but they also come down and forage on some of the grassy areas.
The squirrels have much bushier tails than tree shrews and grow bigger. We've got some really nice looking squirrels around too, my favourites being a dark grey and white and one that's quite a deep red with white patches.

As I've said before, the picture was never intended be exactly what I saw. These things are hard to tell apart. The ones I see can grow quite large. Like body and tail both over a foot long.

[GroveHillWanderer]

3 hours ago, ozimoron said:

I'm waiting for someone who knows to give it's Linnaeus name.

Not sure how anyone can do that if, as you strongly implied, the photograph is not of the animal in question.

Edited January 2, 2023 by GroveHillWanderer

[ozimoron]

4 minutes ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

Not sure how anyone can do that if, as you strongly implied, the photograph is not of the animal in question.

A single species is so common around Pattaya I figured somebody might be able to positively identify it beyond vague common names like a tree squirrel or tree shrew.

[jak2002003]

1 hour ago, ozimoron said:

A single species is so common around Pattaya I figured somebody might be able to positively identify it beyond vague common names like a tree squirrel or tree shrew.

I gave you the Latin name of the species you provided a photograph of.  

 

But you can't expect us to know what species you are seeing with no photo and your vague discription of it being as big as a cat. 

 

You say you did research yourself.. I suggest you do more.  It would be easier for you to find a photo on the net of squirrels negative to Thailand.  

Edited January 2, 2023 by jak2002003

[ColeBOzbourne]

Did it look like this? Was there a moose running along the powerline with it? If so, it's a flying squirrel and its name is Rocky. 

[ozimoron]

1 minute ago, jak2002003 said:

I gave you the Latin name of the species you provided a photograph of.  

 

But you can't expect us to know what species you are seeing with no photo and your vague discription of it being as big as a cat. 

 

You say you did research yourself.. I suggest you do more.  It would be easier for you to find a photo on the net of squirrels negative to Thailand.  

I've already said, several times, I can't get close enough to take a decent photo or recognise it from a website. The websites I have seen indicate that it is difficult to identify between species and sub species. I have also said that they are so common in Pattaya that it';s reasonable to assume somebody has already positively identified them and could do so here.

 

I was able to identify the actual species myself at the time I posted the photo so your comment was no help at all. Unless you absolutely know what species these animals re very likely to be then I suggest you stop speculating.

[jak2002003]

34 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

I've already said, several times, I can't get close enough to take a decent photo or recognise it from a website. The websites I have seen indicate that it is difficult to identify between species and sub species. I have also said that they are so common in Pattaya that it';s reasonable to assume somebody has already positively identified them and could do so here.

 

I was able to identify the actual species myself at the time I posted the photo so your comment was no help at all. Unless you absolutely know what species these animals re very likely to be then I suggest you stop speculating.

OK.  No idea how you expect someone to know what it is though if you have no photo, and can't see it with your own eyes clearly. There are many squirrel species found in your area. ????

 

 

 

 

 

[ozimoron]

Just now, jak2002003 said:

OK.  No idea how you expect someone to know what it is though if you have no photo, and can't see it with your own eyes clearly. There are many squirrel species found in your area. ????

For the last time. A SINGLE species appears to be far more common in Pattaya than any others. I therefore considered that somebody would know definitively what species it is. That person is obviously not you. Stop trolling.

[jak2002003]

9 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

For the last time. A SINGLE species appears to be far more common in Pattaya than any others. I therefore considered that somebody would know definitively what species it is. That person is obviously not you. Stop trolling.

I am not trolling.  I have gone out of my way to help you with your question.  I told you what it is already. 

 

Variable Squirrel.   This is the most common one in your area and found in urban areas too.   

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlayson's_squirrel

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 2, 2023 by jak2002003

[ozimoron]

2 minutes ago, jak2002003 said:

I told you what it is already. 

 

Variable Squirrel.   This is the most common one in your area and found in urban areas too.  

Then why are you carrying on with this if not trolling?

 

You got triggered by a response I made to another person.

Edited January 2, 2023 by ozimoron

[jak2002003]

3 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

Then why are you carrying on with this if not trolling?

 

You got triggered by a response I made to another person.

I don't know what response that was.  I am not 'triggered' and not 'trolling'.  I was just trying to help you as I am interesting in wildlife myself. 

 

Wish I never bothered now.  ????

 

 

[gomangosteen]

Name that squirrel (or shrew)

These are some of the ones at our place (Chanthaburi)

Bananas and papayas are popular.