Berdmore's Ground Squirrel

Berdmore's Ground Squirrel Temporal range: Recent
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Sciuridae
Subfamily:	Callosciurinae
Tribe:	Callosciurini
Genus:	Menetes Thomas, 1908
Species:	M. berdmorei
Binomial name
Menetes berdmorei Blyth, 1849

The Berdmore's Ground Squirrel (Menetes berdmorei) is a ground squirrel found in Southeast Asia, from the east of Myanmar to Vietnam. It is however absent on the Malay peninsula, as well as the islands.

The rarely known squirrel has a greybrown back and a white belly. Most striking are stripes on the side - on each side one beige and below a black stripe. The head is pointy, so this squirrel resembles a mouse or a treeshrew. Its length is 20 cm (7.9 in), not including the 15 cm (5.9 in) long tail.

As a ground squirrel it is rarely found on trees, but spends most of the time in the thick underwoods of the rainforests. However it is also found in fields or villages, especially in rice fields it is sometimes omnipresent. Despite it being quite common only very little is known about the life of this squirrel. Despite its name, it is not a close relative of the ground squirrels of the tribe Marmotini

References

1. ^ Walston, J. & Duckworth, J. W. (2008). Menetes berdmorei. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 6 January 2009.