Southern African Tree Squirrel

Bats and rodents are not everyone’s cup of tea, but in South Africa’s wild places they’re very much at home and a crucial component of the ecosystem. During our visit to the Kruger National Park in December 2021 we were lucky, though not all equally happy 😉 , to bump into a few of them in and around Satara Rest Camp.

The Red Veld Rat (aka Red Rock Rat) sauntered closer to Marilize while I was busy taking pictures of the Brown-backed Tree Frog one night.

We seem to be more forgiving of rodents that roam during the daylight, like these cute and cuddly Southern African Tree Squirrels.

Southern African Tree Squirrel

Southern African Tree Squirrel sneaking a drink

Squirrel hijacking our car while we were having a picnic

Now Bats again are a different story. I’ve heard them being referred to as the “rats of the air”. If you could look past their appearance, often smelly colonies, and the fact that they are indeed carriers of some pretty serious diseases, they are actually a quite fascinating and diverse group of creatures!

As yet unidentified insect-eating bat that unfortunately grounded itself

The identity of this insect-eating bat, roosting against a tree trunk, has me stumped.

Free-tailed Bat juvenile that fell from the roost (photo by Joubert)

Epauletted Fruit Bats

Mauritian Tomb Bat

Mauritian Tomb Bats (photo by Joubert)

Mauritian Tomb Bats

Paraxerus cepapi

The Southern African Tree Squirrel (also known as Smith’s Bush Squirrel) occurs in bushveld and woodland, and is especially plentiful in riverine bush and mopane veld. They feed on leaves, flowers, seeds, fruit and berries, bark, pods, gum, moss and occasionally insects, eggs and chicks. They can live independently of drinking water. On average they’re about 35cm long (including their bushy tail) and weigh around 175g.

Although they are usually seen foraging alone, Tree Squirrels live in small groups consisting of 1 or 2 males, females and young. The whole group shares a nest, usually a hole in a tree lined with soft plant material. Tree Squirrels are diurnal, and enjoy baking in the sun near their nest hole in the early morning. Their noisy alarm calls is often a good clue as to the whereabouts of predators. When threatened they run to the nearest tree, moving around the trunk so that it is always between them and the attacker, but they can jump distances of up to 2 metres when the need arises.

Females give birth to 1-3 tiny (10g) babies at anytime of year, though mostly in the rainy season. The young leave the nest from about 3 weeks old. Snakes, eagles, owls, genets, cats and mongooses are the chief predators of Tree Squirrels, which has a life expectancy of about 8 years in the wild.

The Southern African Tree Squirrel is found in southern Angola, Zambia, southern DRC, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, northern Namibia, Swaziland and northern South Africa (Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng, North West and extreme northern Kwazulu-Natal), where it is a common species and regarded as being of least concern by the IUCN.