Indian Squirrels

The stripes on a common Indian squirrel’s back have a Hindu legend attached to them — but the animal’s actual biology, nesting habits, and diet are just as interesting as the mythology.

A five-striped palm squirrel (Funambulus pennantii), Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur. Photo: Charles J. Sharp / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Indian Squirrels

Tree nests, ground caches, omnivorous diet

NestsLeaf “dreys” in trees, not ground burrows

Food CachingBury nuts and seeds in the ground

DietOmnivorous — seeds, insects, even bird eggs

Common SpeciesThree-striped and Five-striped Palm Squirrels

Did you know? A Hindu legend says the stripes on a squirrel’s back are the mark of Lord Rama’s fingers, for helping build the bridge to Lanka.

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📑 Contents

1Must Know
2Good to Know
3Great to Know
4Test Yourself
5Previous Year Question

🏛️ Must Know

Nesting, Caching, and Diet

Tree Nests, Not Ground Burrows Indian squirrels build leaf nests, called “dreys,” in trees, and also use tree hollows and building crevices — they do not build nests by burrowing into the ground.
They Do Cache Food in the Ground Despite nesting in trees, Indian squirrels are scatter-hoarders that bury nuts, seeds, and other food items in the ground to retrieve later, especially when food is scarce.
Omnivorous Diet Indian squirrels eat a wide range of foods — seeds, nuts, buds, bark, leaves, insects, flowers, grubs, and occasionally even bird eggs or nestlings.
Common Species The most familiar Indian squirrels are the three-striped palm squirrel (Funambulus palmarum), found south of the Vindhyas and in Sri Lanka, and the five-striped palm squirrel (Funambulus pennantii), found across northern India.

🏘️ Good to Know

Beyond the Common Palm Squirrels

The Indian Giant Squirrel Ratufa indica, the Indian giant squirrel, is a much larger, brightly multi-coloured, primarily arboreal species endemic to India’s forests — distinct from the small, common palm squirrels seen in gardens and cities.
Semi-Arboreal Lifestyle Palm squirrels are semi-arboreal, comfortable both climbing trees and foraging on the ground, which is exactly why they can both nest in trees and cache food in soil.
Adaptable Habitat Indian squirrels thrive in a wide range of habitats, from dry deciduous forests to gardens, parks, and dense urban areas, making them among the most commonly seen wild mammals in Indian cities.

⚡ Great to Know

The Legend of the Stripes

Rama Setu Legend A well-known Hindu legend says that during the building of Rama Setu, the bridge to Lanka, a small squirrel helped by rolling in sand and shaking it off at the bridge’s end. Pleased, Lord Rama stroked its back, leaving the white stripes squirrels carry to this day.
Cultural Protection Because of this association with Lord Rama, squirrels are considered sacred by many Hindus, who avoid harming them and often feed them near homes and temples.
A Real Biological Signal Ironically, the stripes are also a genuine biological trait — palm squirrel species are distinguished largely by their number of pale stripes, giving the “three-striped” and “five-striped” species their common names.

Test Yourself

📝 Previous Year Question

UPSC CSP 2023 — Indian Squirrels Statements

UPSC 2023 Only two of the three statements are correct. Indian squirrels build nests in trees, not by burrowing into the ground, so Statement 1 is false. They do store food like nuts and seeds in the ground (Statement 2, true), and they are omnivorous (Statement 3, true). See UPSC CSP 2023 GS Paper I, Q17.

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