Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Indian Palm Squirrel

Funambulus palmarum

Description:

Indian Palm Squirrels are also known as the 3 stripe squirrel due to the mix of dark and white stripes on the back of the Indian palm squirrel.It is a tree squirrel about the size of a rat, and actually has five white stripes, although only three of them run the entire length of its body from neck to tail. These squirrels create nests made up from grass and it is in the these nests that they give birth to and wean their young. Typically Indian palm squirrels give birth to 2 or 3 babies which are weaned by the mother until the babies are around 10 weeks old.

Notes:

There is a beautiful Hindu legend about the Indian palm squirrel. According to the legend, the squirrel helped to construct a bridge for Lord Rama so that he could retrieve his wife Sita, who had been kidnapped. The squirrel worked tirelessly carrying small rocks for the bridge, all the while chanting Lord Rama's name. But the larger and stronger monkeys and bears, who could carry much larger stones, made fun of her for being small and weak. Lord Rama, recognizing the squirrel's dedication and seeing her crying from the other animals' ridicule, lifted her up and stroked her back, and declared that from then on nobody would make fun of her. His fingers as he petted her left the stripes on her back.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

14 Comments

Atul
Atul 10 years ago

Thanks Mark and Jemma :)

Hema  Shah
Hema Shah 10 years ago

lovely!!

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 10 years ago

Nice story. They are so fast and agile - I love watching them.

Atul
Atul 11 years ago

Added ...Thank you :)

randp1
randp1 11 years ago

This would be great on Project Squirrel! http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/3600...

Atul
Atul 11 years ago

Thank you so much Yuko ...:)

YukoChartraw
YukoChartraw 11 years ago

I just turned on my computer and saw this spotting. What a lovely spotting to start a day! Thank you and have a wonderful day (or evening for some people) everybody!

Atul
Atul 11 years ago

Thank you Karen :)

KarenL
KarenL 11 years ago

Nice series & lovely story!

Atul
Atul 11 years ago

Thank you Satyen and Kerry :-)

Wild Things
Wild Things 11 years ago

Beautiful!

KerryHawkins
KerryHawkins 11 years ago

Such a gymnastist. Really cute. Great captures Atul.

Atul
Atul 11 years ago

Thanks Laurie... Glad you liked the story :-)

LaurieWinters
LaurieWinters 11 years ago

Great Spotting. So cute. I love the info and the story!

Atul
Spotted by
Atul

Maharashtra, India

Spotted on Mar 24, 2013
Submitted on Mar 24, 2013

Related Spottings

Indian Palm Squirrel Indian palm squirrel SQUIRREL Indian Palm Squirrel

Nearby Spottings

Unnamed spotting Unknown Nest Stink Bug Nymphs Beet Webworm
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team