New Trip Report: Natuna Islands, Indonesia
A fascinating report from Mark Spence who went in search of the lovely looking Natuna Langur last year.
Natuna Islands, 2021: Mark Spence, 1 week with mammals including Natuna Langur, Small-toothed Palm Civet, Slow Loris and a strange looking Giant Squirrel.
Jon
2 Comments
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markspen
Hi Daan. I only have similar shots of the same individual. They were actually pretty common but they didn’t get much attention with the langurs around. I’ve asked a couple of the people in Natuna to take some pictures and send them on and I’ll pass them on to you. I think the closest in coloration I have seen are the giant squirrels in Brunei but still quite different.
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Daan Drukker
Very cool squirrel. It should indeed be Ratufa affinis, the Pale Giant Squirrel. The description of the subspecies R. a. bunguranensis – which should be the local subspecies – in Squirrels of the World (Thorington et al. 2012) is rather limited: “It resembles the Malayan forms, with a uniform brown dorsal pelage”. It is indeed the most striking on your photo that it has a brown instead of dark grey back. However the fact that it has an dark grey head and seemingly no white on the underside is not described. The geographical variation of Ratufa affinis is intreguing. If you have more photos, I would be very interested, Mark!