Slender Squirrel (Sundasciurus tenuis)


HB: 212-218; T:217-224; HF:48-40; E:19-22

The Slender Squirrel (Sundasciurus tenuis) is a species of rodent in the Sciuridae family. The body is brown on the upper parts and light grey on the underparts. The body measures about 13-16 cm, with a slightly shorter slender tail. S. tenuis is a nondescript squirrel with an olive brown back, darker tail and underparts which are buff grey or brownish grey. The demarcation between dark upperparts and lighter underparts is indistinct. The tail is long, nearly as long as the head and body and also slender. The head as a turned up nose rather than a straight Roman nose as found in S. Lowii (Harrison 1962) The female as 3 sets of mammae

Range Description:

This species is found in Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand, Sumatra, Borneo and several small adjacent islands.

Countries: Native:



This species is common in suitable habitat. This species was rarely found in a survey conducted by Saiful and Nordin (2004) in Peninsular Malaysia (Weng River sub-catchment).
Population Trend: Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology:

 It occurs in primary and disturbed forests, in both lowlands and mountains (Lekagul and McNeely 1988). It seems to cope well in forests that have been affected by logging. This is a diurnal and arboreal species (Saiful and Nordin 2004). It feeds on soft bark, fruits and insects.
Systems: Terrestrial

Major Threat(s):

 There are no major threats to this species.

Conservation Actions:

 It occurs in numerous protected areas across its range. Saiful and Nordin (2004) state the need for further comparative study on this species' abundance, density and distribution and its relationship to forest structure or habitat quality, spatially and temporally, in hill dipterocarp forest of Malaysia.