Saturday, May 28, 2011
On our China tour, we see the most amazing creatures: the Giant Red and White Flying Squirrel (Petaurista alborufus), about which little is known.
This species is found in China in the provinces of Shaanxi, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Gansu, Hubei, Guizhou, and Yunnan, and in Taiwan. It is likely that this species' southern distribution extends into Myanmar; however, there are no known specimens collected from within that country. It occupies elevations ranging from 800-3,500 m above sea level, most often from 2,000-3,000m (IUCN Red data List).
They live in hollows in large mature trees, and seem to inhabit valleys with multiple large/mature trees, giving them a number of hollows to choose from. This species has low fecundity, with litter sizes of 1-2. They feed on acorns, other nuts, fruits and leafy vegetation, as well as insects, larvae and perhaps bird eggs (Lee et al. 1993a; Smith and Xie 2008).
There were three characteristics most noticeable to me and everyone who witnessed the remarkable creature:
- Its striking BLUE eyes - really, really sky blue eyes that do not show up so well in photos.
- Its size: much bigger than anyone expects, perhaps size of a raccoon....BIG!
- The incredibly large distance covered in each glide.
They climb whatever tree they are on to the uppermost branches and then glide from there hundreds of yards to next tree where they have a hollow.
One of the participants on our trip, Nancy Miller, considered the Squirrels one of the absolute highlights of the trip and one of the most remarkable wildlife experiences of her lifetime...and she has been to see the Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda, seen Polar bears in Churchill, visited Antarctica - and she thought this experience one of the most amazing!!
Consider joining one of our next trips to China, in May of 2012.
~Ged
(Source: Smith, A. and Xie, Y. 2008. The Mammals of China. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.)