248 Protoxerus stangerirust-colored rump and limbs, a light gray head, and a
white throat.
P. s. centricola—Mount Nkungwe, Tanzania. It resembles P.
s. bea, but with richer rufous on the rump and hind legs
and a grizzled russet back. There is a gray mask on the
face, and a single black mark beneath each ear.
P. s. cooperi—Sango Bay Forest (Uganda). This subspecies
has a grizzled yellow back and yellowish orange hind
legs, with a pale yellow ventral pelage. The head is paler
gray, with orange and black patches behind the ears.
There is no red on the forearms.
P. s. eborivorus—“Ovenga River” (Gabon), Cameroon, Equa-
torial Guinea, and Central African Republic. It is charac-
terized by a black and red dorsal pelage, a rufous and
whitish head, a gray throat and chest, a brown abdomen,
and red feet. The tail is black at the base, changing to
rufous and then black and white rings in the middle sec-
tions, with a black distal tip. This subspecies is recorded
as eating the animal matter on freshly fallen elephant
tusks.
P. s. kabobo—Mount Kabobo (Democratic Republic of the
Congo). This form has a white head, yellow nape of the
neck, and ochraceous tawny back limbs.
P. s. kwango—Kwango (Democratic Republic of the Congo).
The crown of the head is light buff , the dorsal pelage is
warm buff , and the back and limbs are yellow ochre or
burnt sienna. The sparse ventral pelage is dark, becom-
ing a russet red color on the chest.
P. s. loandae—high forest in northern Angola.
P. s. nigeriae—Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. The throat and chest
are white, with a distinct white line separating the dorsal
and ventral pelages.
P. s. personatus—mouth of the Congo River (Democratic Re-
public of the Congo). This subspecies has deep yellow
highlights in the dorsal pelage, a black head grizzled
with white, an off -white throat and chest, and rufous on
the top of the forefeet. The tail is mostly red and black
with a white and black tip.
P. s. signatus—Lodja, upper Lukenye River (southern Demo-
cratic Republic of the Congo). A uniform black stripe
separates the dorsal and ventral pelages; the hands and
feet are a rich rufous.
P. s. temminckii—Sierra Leone and Liberia eastward to
Ghana. This form has a white throat and chest, a white
line separating the fl ank from the belly, and white hair
on the insides of the limbs. Some individuals display a
dark or black spot above the sides of the neck.conservation: IUCN status—least concern. Population
trend—no information.habitat: The forest giant squirrel is found in lowland ever-
green rainforests, open grass woodlands, swamp forests,
and montane forests. It occurs among a variety of forest
qualities, including mature, secondary, and edge forests; in
plantations; and in gardens with trees.natural history: The forest giant squirrel is an arboreal
species that lives almost exclusively in the upper forest can-
opy. Individuals are active from dawn until late afternoon.
Their diet consists primarily of fruits and seeds from tree
and liana species such as Panda oleosa, Coula edulis, and vari-
ous species of Klaineodoxa, Irvingia, Elaeis (oil palm), Pseudo-
spondias, Musanga, Parinari, Chrysophyllum, Carapa, Calo-
ncoba, Cordia, Urera, and Phoenix. They also consume small
amounts of vegetation and arthropods, and they have even
been reported to kill nesting hornbills. This species’ major
predators are eagles and other large raptors, probably be-
cause of the squirrels’ arboreal location. They nest in tree
hollows with small entrances or in the forks of branches.
They line their beds with fresh leaves and twigs, and they
may use the same nests for many seasons. Individuals live
alone, and they avoid conspecifi cs except to mate or raise
their young. They prefer to forage in solitude, to the point
of aggressively chasing other squirrels out of fruit trees, and
they do not engage in social interactions (e.g., play or allog-
rooming). Subadult females maintain home ranges of 3.2–
5.0 ha. Individuals communicate vocally with two main
ca lls. Their mild a larm ca ll is composed of repeated sniff s or
sneezes, occasionally alternated with “clicks” of the incisor
teeth. Their high-intensity alarm call is a series of pulses of
descending frequency, which resembles a short whinny;
this is repeated every 5–20 seconds. The calls are not accom-Protoxerus stangeri. Photo courtesy Nik Borrow.