The IUCN has classified the Indian giant squirrel as a species of least concern - meaning it's not considered to be critically threatened or endangered - but notes that the squirrel population is trending downward as deforestation, logging, hunting and other activities threaten the forests that the animals call home. The creatures are solitary omnivores with a taste for fruit, bird eggs, bugs and flowers. Two studies in the 1990s found that the animals build 'eagle-sized nests' in trees where they raise their young until they're independent enough to venture out on their own, according to the University of Michigan. They're known to grow to be about a foot long and can live more than a decade, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Indian giant squirrel Malabar giant squirrel (Ratufa indica) The Indian Giant Squirrel Is Almost Too Beautiful To Be Real When squirrel expert John. In the shaded understory of a dense forest, the patchy colors and dark hues are a great adaptation to avoiding detection, squirrel expert John Koprowski said. While the squirrel might seem like an oddity to a western audience, the creature is commonly found up in trees in various wooded areas of western and central India. But the Malabar giant squirrels didn’t picked this multicolred coat by choice, Thanks to it, they get teh best camouflage against their natural predators. 'It was when I shared some of the photographs on social media many of my friends and followers came to know about the Malabar Giant Squirrel and they were all amazed by its appearance.' Malabar Giant Squirrel or Ratufa indica in a forest in Periyar, Kerala.

Declared threatened status, the Malabar Giant Squirrel is classified as ‘vulnerable’ according to the red list of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural. The Indian giant squirrel, or Malabar giant squirrel, is a large tree squirrel species. It is locally called as ‘Malayannan’ in Kerala, which means ‘Mountain Squirrel’ in the native language. 'The response I see from the people on social media when I post a picture of the giant squirrel fuels my enthusiasm to go out there,' Indian photographer Kaushik Vijayan told British news agency SWNA. Indian Giant Squirrel or Malabar Giant Squirrel is a large forest squirrel seen in south Asia.