Wild Squirrel Finds His Way In Build Tunnel For Food

The forest giant squirrel is the largest arboreal squirrel in Africa with a head-and-body length of around 300 mm (12 in) and a bushy tail of a similar length. The head is large and rounded with powerful cheek muscles. The brownish hairs on the top of the head and on the nape are tipped with white giving a frosted appearance.

The ears are small, rounded and almost hairless. The body coloring is rather variable across the animal's wide range. The fur is short and stiff; the upper parts are medium brown grizzled with buff or yellow, the individual hairs having black bases, yellow or buff shafts and black tips. The chest is white and the underparts are almost hairless showing the yellowish skin.

The limbs are compact and strong. The tail is long and bushy and the black and white barring is sometimes not clearly visible. When the animal is moving around, the tail is held horizontally, but when it is stationary, the tail hangs down.

The forest giant squirrel is native to tropical western and central Africa. Its range extends from Sierra Leone to western Kenya, and southwards to northern Angola and northern Tanzania. It is a lowland species with a maximum altitudinal limit of about 2,000 m (6,600 ft). It occurs in primary forest, secondary forest and fringing forest as well as plantations and agricultural land and gardens with trees.

It is normally found in the upper layers of the canopy, only occasionally descending to ground level