Funambulus pennanti is a very, very much smaller mammal than is Oryx gazella.
Nonetheless, whereas yesterday’s large African antelopes occupied a tiny portion of the featured image, today’s Asian rodents dominate it.
Many people regard this widespread, very adaptable squirrel species as “particularly cute”.
From an agricultural/human food production/storage point of view, however, five-striped palm squirrels are a serious pest; in Elmer Fudd-speak, these are “weally wascally wodents”.
In Australia, where it is also known as the “Northern palm squirrel”, escapees from Perth’s and Sydney’s main zoos “went forth and multiplied”.
As I type, it appears that eradication efforts just might have succeeded, in both cases.
Perth Zoo, to which they were introduced in 1898) no longer houses this species, and I think the same is true of Taronga Zoo.
The pictured individuals were on home turf, in Rajasthan, India.
Photo is copyright Doug Spencer, taken at 9.53 am on 06 February 2020, in Keoladeo National Park, aka/“formerly” known as Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary – a place which should be on any bird-lover’s “bucket list”.