#0507 · 🦊 mammals

Japanese Squirrel

🇳🇱 Japanse Eekhoorn ·Sciurus lis

LCleast concern 🦊 Mammals 📍 outside Europe

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © kyohei ito · CC BY-SA 4.0
2. © William Hull · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © katasu · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © Wich’yanan (Jay) Limparungpatthanakij · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. © Timur Kalininsky · CC BY 4.0
6. © Joshua Stone · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. Sakai, Okutama, Nishitama District, Tokyo, Tokyo 198-0222, Japan:© Marco Mussita · CC BY 4.0
8. 日本、〒036-8273 青森県弘前市西茂森:© b1901075 · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. Japan:© Suzu Sato · CC BY-NC 4.0
10. Район Аоба, Сендай, Мияги, Япония:© Timur Kalininsky · CC BY 4.0

what is it?

The Japanese squirrel ( Sciurus lis ) is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus endemic to Japan. The Japanese squirrel's range includes the islands of Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū. Recently, populations on south-western Honshū and Shikoku decreased, and those on Kyūshū disappeared. One of the factors affecting the local extinction of this species seems to be forest fragmentation by humans.

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 1,805iNaturalist observations
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
1,805 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1844 (182 years ago).
Not originally Dutch: it was introduced to the Netherlands.