Creature Feature: Cream-Colored Giant Squirrel.

Any environmentalist  will tell you that every animal alive today has its place in the world. Every single species is a special little snowflake and a piece of a much bigger puzzle. This blog was made to celebrate how wicked awesome other species are. If you've been reading this blog, this paragraph was a broken record to you.

Then there are some animals that make us go, "the fark, nature? Why is this thing still alive?" The panda bear is on that list. So is this:

The Cream-colored Giant Squirrel (Ratufa affinis) is one of those animals. It can be found only in Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. It eats seeds, leaves, bark, and insects. It is almost completely arboreal. It is thought extinct in Singapore and Vietnam, making the stamp above very ironic. 

So, let's get some facts down. The Cream-colored Giant Squirrel ("creamy-squirrel") is exactly what it says on the tin: a pale squirrel that is giant. It can get almost a yard long from the tip of its nose to the end of its long, bushy tail, which helps it balance like a tripod while eating. Along with being pale, these giant squirrels are usually boldly marked. The name alone says that this animal should not survive.

Surprise surprise: It just barely lives. OK, so it's not on the Endangered List  yet, but it is near-threatened. These squirrels are easy to hunt and prone to deforestation. As arboreal animals, even sustainable logging might be a threat. What else is new? Well...

Along with human interference, the creamy-squirrel has competition from the giant black squirrel. In most of its range, these two squirrels share habitat. The only place where creamy-squirrel is truly safe is in Borneo, where it is the only giant squirrel. The main difference is that creamy-squirrels do not so much as go to the ground to feed, whereas the black squirrels leave the trees every now and then; otherwise, the creamy-squirrels have no real niche. Regardless of how many enemies the cream-colored squirrel has, I bet this is one of the few times you will ever hear of a squirrel going extinct.

Creature Feature: Musasabi.

Before you immediately assume that the title above is some sort of Japanese liquor, consider the following: 1. you know this blog only covers "LET'S BREW!" topics on Wednesdays, and 2. Japan is a chain of islands with a bunch of unique wildlife by default. Did you really think that their weird mythology just happened? Nooo, their wildlife inspired a lot of it, just to make things extra-disturbing!

Nocturnal = shiny eyes. The squirrel is not possessed...as far as we know.

The musasabi (Petaurista leucogenys) is known as the "Japanese giant flying squirrel" in English. Specifically, it lives in Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku in the Japanese archipelago, as well as Guangzhou in China. It eats fruits and nuts. They can be found fairly close to civilization, with Mt, Takao being only an hour away from Tokyo.

Once again, the question is "how giant is giant?" This video actually gives you a pretty good idea. For those of you who prefer stats, it can weigh up to 1500 grams and can be up to 90cm long including the tail. Aside from being a darn big squirrel, the musasabi can also glide up to 160 meters. It's almost as big as a cat, and it can all but fly. Japan has fine nightmare fuel indeed.

From here.

The weird does not stop at its size. Like something out of a hentai, the musasabi plugs the female's vagina with a sticky protein called a coitus plug after sex. There could be a number of reasons for this, such as increasing chances of fertilization. It also prevents other males from mating with the plugged female. Supposedly, they're monogamous, too. Between these guys and raccoon-dogs with overlarge testicles, we should not be surprised that Japan has a reputation for weird porn.

Although not as well-loved as the momonga, the musasabi does have some representation in Japanese culture. It can be found at Japanese exotic pet conventions, although, aside from having an easy diet, I cannot see these squirrels being good captives. There is also a popular Italian restaurant on the Keio line called "Musasabi." The mususabi, like the momonga, also has the rather funny honor of being a Kaiyodo sculpture and featured on a children's trading card:

Frankly, we're surprised that the electric momonga in Gen V doesn't evolve into this monster-squirrel. That would be kinda cool. FUND IT.

Creature Feature: Momonga.

If you have ever heard the above word before, you have no doubt borne witness to it in some form of Japanese monster culture. Yu-Gi-Oh! has a few Momonga cards and Pokemon just got another electric squirrel in Generation V:



Japan has several species of flying squirrel. They can all be referred to as "momonga," but the 'true' momonga is the Japanese dwarf flying squirrel (Pteromys momonga). I'll let that sink in before I post the pic. Dwarf. Squirrel. That flies.

Brace yourselves:



How did nature make something so goshdarn cute? You might be able to blame insular dwarfism; sometimes, when creatures evolve on islands, they get substantially smaller than their mainland counterparts. Japan also has another giant momonga, which may be the opposite case (insular gigantism). In the end, it really does not matter: They are adorable.



Momongas, as well as other flying squirrels, do not actually fly. They have a flap of skin called a patagium in between their forelimbs and hindlimbs. "Parachuting squirrel" does not have the right ring to it, even though it would be more accurate.


The ugliest momonga picture science could manage.

The momonga is native only to the sub-alpine forests of Japan. It eats seeds and fruits - you know, like most squirrels do. As the big eyes might have hinted, the momonga is nocturnal. It is threatened by habitat loss, but not enough to make it a super-endangered animal (instead listed as least concern). 

By the way, be careful looking this little guy up on YouTube; I have seen a few sugar gliders posing as momonga. Those are cute, but not the dwarf flying squirrel. (They are actually marsupials, for starters; the Japanese use the term "momonga" to describe them regardless.) For future reference, here is a picture of the culprit:

Truly the eyes of a con artist.

Japan is capable of great atrocities and great cuteness; that is why they can make both tentacle porn and Hello Kitty. (For your own sanity, do not combine those two images in your head. Have a cute video to push that nasty image out.)



If this squirrel does not kill you by sheer cute, then you do not have a soul.

Creature Feature: Indian Giant Squirrel.

Welp, college time has rolled around again. My own courses seem to be panning out well; even computer science and Chinese should not be killer. It's one thing if you like your courses, but no academic thrill can parallel having a baby squirrel perch on your hand and munch a Dorito.


This happened.

OK, so that's one of the many mundane, but fun pleasures of college life. There are two types of squirrels at Loyola, but none come close to the awesome purple squirrel from India.


If you laughed, well, joke's on you.

Remember when I said that purple was a veeeerrrryyy rare color in mammals? It comes closest to occurring on the Indian Giant Squirrel (Ratufa indica), of all creatures. Not only does it come in a bunch of sweet color patterns, but this squirrel can get over a foot long - not counting a two-foot-long tail.


Plotting your demise from the treetops.

This squirrel is native to India if it was not obvious from the name. It spends its time in forest canopies and can jump up to 6 meters from tree to tree. Scientists are currently unsure of the squirrels' thoughts on outsourcing, but Foamy should be proud that one of his relatives can annoy tech support and look good doing it.


Buddhism a la squirrels.

Like all squirrels, the Indian Giant Squirrel is an herbivore. What, did you think it ate people or something?