Prevost’s Squirrel at Kinabatangan Wetland Resort, Sabah

Prevost’s Squirrel  is one of the most common squirrels of lowland forests  throughout Borneo.

The diet is mainly ripe fruit especially wild  figs and this squirrel often raids orchards along the forest edge.

The coat colour  of Prevost’s Squirrel is extremely variable throughout Borneo.

It appears that large rivers have acted as dispersal barriers so that each river valley may host a different colour morph.

Sabah is unique in that the coat  colour of Prevost’s  Squirrel throughout Sabah is  glossy black with a dark rufous belly, with one exception.

In East Sabah  some populations have a white stripe between the rufous belly and the glossy black back.

Prevost’s Squirrel is common in the peat swamp forest surrounding Kinabatangan Wetland Resort (KWR).

Unusually at KWR both Sabah morphs occur as illustrated in the photographs below. Two different individual squirrels  are shown one with a prominent white side stripe and one without.

The Kinabatangan Wetland Resort  (KWR) is located in virgin peat swamp forest within the river mouth delta of  the Kinabatangan River  in East Sabah. The surrounding peat swamp forest is rich in wildlife. The KWR location is at the ecotone between fresh and brackish water.

Thanks to our guides Dido and Andis  for information 

Thanks to Caroline Bowman for  photographs.