Tim writes: the Swinhoe’s Striped Squirrel (Tamiops swinhoei) is only found in high altitude forests (usually 2500-3000m) in China, northern Myanmar and northern Vietnam. I photographed this individual at about 2800m at Labahe in Sichuan, China. It is a tree-dwelling squirrel, though I managed to capture this individual freezing, when it was half way across a road. You can see that its feet face outwards, showing that it normally uses them to cling to tree branches, as there aren’t many roads in its mountain forest habitat. It is a small squirrel, about 25cm from head to tail tip and weighing less than 100g. The stripes are on the back, and consist of five darker stripes, with four paler stripes between them, and it feeds on fruits, shoots and insects. It was named after naturalist Robert Swinhoe (1836-1877) who was one of China’s pioneer naturalists. He worked as a diplomat which gave him access to lots of areas that had not previously been open to collectors. He discovered more than two hundred species of bird, plus dozens of Chinese mammals, fish and insects, including this squirrel.
[registration_form]