THE GOLDEN-TAILED TUPAIA 



( Tupaia chrysura) 



IN the warm climates of South-East Asia, from Southern India to the 

 Philippines, are found a number of insectivores, the family Tupaiidce, 

 which present a remarkable resemblance to the Squirrels among the 

 Rodents. Indeed the Malays have but one name for these two groups 

 " Tupai," whence the scientific name of the typical genus is derived. The 

 Golden-Tailed species is hardly more than a local race of the Tana 

 ( Tupaia tana), which ranges through Borneo and Sumatra. The more 

 ordinary colour of the typical form is a plain dark brown on both body 

 and tail. The Tana is the largest of the Tupaias, being about ten inches 

 long without the tail. 



These little animals, although so like Squirrels in general aspect, 

 are distinguished by having the usual long snout of the insectivores ; 

 and if the teeth are examined, it will be seen that, unlike any rodents, 

 they have canines, and more than one pair of incisors in each jaw. The 

 eyes are large, as in Squirrels, not minute as in insectivores generally ; 

 but the ears are very small, and not unlike the human ear in shape. 



In general habits they are very squirrel-like ; they are creatures of the 

 day, and very lively and nimble in their movements, both on the ground 

 and on trees. They have the Squirrel's habit of holding their food in 

 their fore-paws ; but in the nature of that food they are true in great part 

 to the traditions of their order, living mostly on insects, though they 

 also readily eat fruit. The Malayan species (T. ferruginea) is a familiar 

 little animal ; when, in the rainy season, it finds things uncomfortably 

 damp outside, it comes into houses, and makes itself at home. I once 

 kept a specimen of the Madras Tree-Shrew (T. ellioti) in Calcutta, and 

 found it an interesting pet. It exhibited keen discrimination in the 

 matter of the insects it ate, always refusing " warningly-coloured " 



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