Grizzled giant squirrel

Grizzled giant squirrel
The highland subspecies
CITES Appendix II (CITES)
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Sciuridae
Genus: Ratufa
Species:
R. macroura
Binomial name
Ratufa macroura
(Pennant, 1769)
Subspecies
  • R. m. macroura
  • R. m. dandolena
  • R. m. melanochra
Grizzled giant squirrel range
Synonyms

Ratufa macroura Phillips, 1931 subspecies sinhala
Ratufa macrurus Blyth, 1859 subspecies albipes
Sciurus ceilonensis Boddaert, 1785
Sciurus ceylonensis Erxleben, 1777
Sciurus ceylonica (Erxleben, 1777)
Sciurus macrourus Pennant, 1769
Sciurus macrourus Kelaart, 1852 variety monatnus
Sciurus macrourus (Kelaart, 1852) variety montana
Sciurus macrura Blanford, 1891
Sciurus tennentii Blyth, 1849
Sciurus zeyllanicus Day, 1693

The grizzled giant squirrel (Ratufa macroura) is a large tree squirrel in the genus Ratufa found in the highlands of the Central and Uva provinces of Sri Lanka, and in patches of riparian forest along the Kaveri River and in the hill forests of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of southern India. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as near threatened due to habitat loss and hunting.