African bush squirrel

Smith - Bush Squirrel

The African Bush Squirrel ( Paraxerus ) are a genus of African squirrels that live in tree savannas and dry forests. They are mainly active during the day and tied to trees, but missing in the tropical rain forests, which are inhabited by other squirrel species. Their nests are located high in the trees in search of food but they are often on the ground. Main food are like most squirrels seeds, nuts and fruits, by the way insects and birds' eggs; some species also dig roots from the soil.

The body length is depending on the type 10 to 30 cm, added 12 to 25 cm tail. The coloration varies with the species. The Boehm - squirrel resembles with its longitudinal strips a chipmunk. The Black Red Bush Squirrel is colored bright red-brown and has in the middle of the back a black spot.

Unlike most tree-dwelling squirrels are Bush Squirrel sociable animals. The groups usually consist of an adult pair and its young. Occasionally, however, do also composed several families. The members of the group warn each other by a shrill whistle when predators nearby. The number of young in a litter of one to three.

One distinguishes eleven species:

  • Alexander Croissant, Paraxerus Alexandrian ( Thomas & Wroughton 1907), DR Congo, Uganda
  • Boehm Croissant, Paraxerus boehmi ( Reichenow 1886), East and Central Africa
  • Striped Bush Squirrel, Paraxerus flavovittis (Peters 1852), Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique
  • Black Red Bush Squirrel, Paraxerus lucifer ( Thomas 1897), Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi
  • Rotschwanzhörnchen, Paraxerus palliatus (Peters 1852), East Africa
  • Svynnerton Croissant, Paraxerus vexillarius ( Kershaw 1923), Tanzania
  • Cooper Croissant, Paraxerus cooperi Hayman in 1950, Cameroon
  • Green Bush Squirrel, Paraxerus poensis (Smith 1830), West and Central Africa
  • Vincent Croissant, Paraxerus vincenti Hayman in 1950, Mozambique
  • Ochre Bush Squirrel, Paraxerus ochraceus ( Huet 1880), Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania
  • Smith - Bush Squirrel, Paraxerus cepapi (Smith 1836), southeastern Africa

In some other concepts the genus Paraxerus is split into several genera; while the genera Aethosciurus, Tamiscus and Montisciurus emerged. Forsyth Major kept the Bush Squirrel even for a sub-species of the African ground squirrel with whom they are not related according to present knowledge.

Most species are common rodents African savannah and bush country. Two types are however maintained by the IUCN as endangered species. The Vincent Croissant is even highly endangered status. We know this only croissants from the slopes of one mountain, Mount Namuli in the north of Mozambique. This area is not protected, so that the Vincent Croissant is acutely threatened in his tiny area of ​​distribution of extinction. The Svynnerton Croissant has a slightly larger, but also comparatively small area of ​​distribution in some mountain ranges of Central Tanzania. Since it is dependent on the dwindling primary forests as a habitat, it will be at risk in the state.

Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major Oldfield Thomas Anton Reichenow Andrew Smith (zoologist)
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