Earth and Space News: Indian Three-Striped Palm Squirrels Augur the Hindu Ellora Caves

Summary: Indian three-striped palm squirrels, auspicious augurs in Hinduism, act with area bats against insect pests around the Ellora Caves of Maharashtra, India.

Indian three-striped palm squirrel (Funambulus palmarum) at Ellora Caves, Maharashtra state, western peninsular India; June 9, 2012: Apurv Kiri, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Indian three-striped palm squirrels, animals appreciated by ancient Hindu deity Rama (from Sanskrit राम, "to please"), perhaps artfully approach Hindu over Buddhist and Jain temples in the Ellora Caves of Maharashtra, India.

The Sciuridae (from Greek σκιά, "shadow"; οὐρά, "tail"; and -ειδής, "-like") family member bears three Rama-blessed stripes for bearing beach sand to Rama's Laccadive Sea bridge. Physically and sexually mature female Indian three-striped palm squirrels construct grass-woven, treetop nests for 34-day gestations of two to three-baby litters during annual fall mating seasons. Blind, dependent, hairless newborn Indian three-striped palm squirrels immediately display their parents' distinct, white eye surrounds and white middle head-tail and two front-leg to rear-leg stripes.

Information-gathering whiskered faces and legs, rear-leg ankle rotations of 180 degrees and vision ranges of almost 360 degrees evoke sustainable newborn and nestling litter-raising by mothers.

Indian three-striped palm squirrels, featured by Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778), furnish 1/1, 2/1 and 3/3 upper/lower-jaw incisor, premolar and molar right/left jaw dentitions.

The four-clawed, four-toed feet of Indian three-striped palm squirrels, grouped as Funambulus palmarum (from Latin fūnambulus, "rope-dancer" and palmārum, "palm [tree]"), each get a rudimentary thumb. They have big, black eyes; small, triangular ears; brown-gray upper-sides; cream-bellied, brown-gray-white undersides; and black, brown, gray, white-haired bushy tails almost as long as head-body lengths. Physically and sexually mature nine-plus-month-olds invoke 5.91 to 7.87-inch (15 to 20-centimeter-) long, 3.53 to 4.23-ounce (100 to 120-gram) bodies in two to four-year life cycles.

Only their chip! chip! chip! alarm calls jeopardize Indian three-striped palm squirrels journeying quickly and quietly among, down, over and up the Ellora Caves.

Perhaps ancient religious associations kindle host and shelter preferences by Indian three-striped palm squirrels for Lord Krishna trees over axle wood, bidi leaf and black cutch.

Indian three-striped palm squirrels land on, lap around and leap down and up bottle gourd, fan palm, golden stone apple, Indian almond and Indian blackwood trees. They move masterfully among, down, over and up Indian frankincense, Indian gooseberry, Indian laburnum, Indian linden, Indian plum, Indian rosewood, Indian sandalwood and marking nut trees. The natural, overlapping Ellora Caves rain gardens, Ellora Caves sanctuary gardens and Ellora Caves teak forest nurture edible, squirrel-friendly bird eggs, insect larvae, nuts and shoots.

Landscaped grounds and pedestrian pathways around the Ellora Caves offer such photo opportunities as Indian three-striped palm squirrels obtaining edible berries, buds, fruits, mushrooms and seeds.

Eagles, hawks, people and snakes prey upon twenty-first-century Indian three-striped palm squirrels, whose Ellora Caves presence perhaps historically provoked golden jackals, panthers, tigers and wild boar.

The chipmunk, flying squirrel, ground squirrel, marmot, prairie dog, tree squirrel and woodchuck family member queues up throughout humid, thick forests, grasslands, jungles, shrublands and woodlands. They require closed-canopy or open-canopy tropical forests and woodlands through 6,561.68-foot (2,000-meter) altitudes above sea level from central India through southern India and onto Sri Lanka. Secure shelters, stable populations, sure climbing and swift movements suggest an International Union for Conservation of Nature status of least concern for Indian three-striped palm squirrels.

Area bats and Indian three-striped palm squirrels, whose southern ancestor Rama touched and turned from stripeless to striped, try turning Buddhist, Hindu, Jain Ellora Caves insect-free.

Landscaped grounds and surrounding forests and woodlands at Ellora Caves provide ideal environments for Indian three-striped palm squirrels (Funambulus palmarum); Ellora Caves, Maharashtra state, western peninsular India; Saturday, Sep. 5, 2009, 12:16:12: Sankarshan Mukhopadhyay (sankarshan), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Indian three-striped palm squirrel (Funambulus palmarum) at Ellora Caves, Maharashtra state, western peninsular India; Saturday, June 9, 2012: Apurv Kiri, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/apurvkiri/7176784727/

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Earth and Space News

Friday, April 3, 2020

Indian Three-Striped Palm Squirrels Augur the Hindu Ellora Caves

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