Red -belly bush horns – Wikipedia

display of Squirrel adorned = Paraxerus palliatus in den Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1864

The Red -belly bush horns ( Paraxerus cloak ) is a species of hearing from the genus of the African bush horns ( Paraxerus ). It occurs in the coastal forest areas of East Africa south of the Sahara from the south of Somalia to the north of South Africa.

The red-belly bush horns reaches an average head fuselage length of 21.0 to 23.0 centimeters, the tail is 19.5 to 21.5 centimeters long. ^[first] The weight is about 350 to 400 grams. ^[2] The hinted length is 50 to 52 millimeters, the ear length 19 to 22 millimeters. ^[first] Some subspecies can also be smaller, especially in drier areas. It is a medium-sized to large croissant with a brown to gray-brown back fur and a striking red or reddish to yellowish belly color. The coloring and intensity can be different and different depending on the subspecies. There are no lightid strips. The top of the head is grayish brown, the cheeks are reddish. The legs and feet are also reddish, and even darker for some subspecies. The tail is comparatively long with a length of around 90 percent of the head fuselage length. It is bushy and grayish brown on the base, in the rear two thirds it is usually colored strongly light red. ^[first] The females have three paired teats (0+1+1+1 = 6). ^[first]

The skull has a total length of 49.0 to 52.0 millimeters and a width of 28.0 to 31.0 millimeters. Like all types of genus, the species in the upper jaw has a incisor (incisive) trained into a gnawing tooth, which follows a tooth gap (Dastema). This is followed by two premolars and three molars. The teeth in the lower jaw correspond to those in the upper jaw, but only with a premolar. Overall, the animals have a bit of 22 teeth. ^[3] The row of teeth of the grinding teeth from the first premolar to the third Molar is 9.3 to 9.9 millimeters. The bony palate ends on the front edge of the last molars. ^[first]

The red -belly bush horns resembles other African bush horns and differs from these primarily by the light red abdominal color. From the Vincent hearing ( Paraxerus Vincent ) can hardly be distinguished, but this only occurs in a delimited area on Monte Namuli in Mozambique. ^[first]

The red -belly bush horns occurs in the coastal forest areas of East Africa south of the Sahara from the south of Somalia to the north of South Africa. The distribution area extends over the east of Kenya, Tanzania with the islands of Zanzibar and Mafia, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe; In South Africa, the animals occur in the province of Kwazulu-Natal. In some areas, the animals along the rivers penetrate further into the domestic, including along the Tana in Kenya and Ruaha in Tanzania. ^{[first] [2] [4]}

The red -belly bush horns lives in different habitats of the dry to damp forests of the East African coastal zone. It prefers dense wooden stocks (thicknesses), in Mozambique and South Africa also dune forests and evergreen wet forest areas up to heights of 2000 meters. ^{[2] [first]}

The animals are active in the day and like other bush horns, although they occasionally search for food on the ground. They create their nests in the trees, especially in tree caves of the Baobab and Kigelia trees. Like other types of the genus, they are omnivor, and they look for their food on the ground and in the trees, where they move quickly along the branches and trunks. The food mainly consists of seeds, fruits and nuts as well as insects and other invertebrates. They create warehouses from seeds, but usually do not hoard large food quantities. In principle, they drink water, but are not dependent on it and can cover the required liquid out of food. ^{[2] [first]} The animals usually live as couples or as loners, but sometimes they also form nest groups of three to four animals. The activity space depends on the habitat and gender; In the evergreen rainforest, average territories of around 3.2 hectares and 2.2 hectares were intended for males, in coastal forests and thickets, the average surface in the males was 4.2 hectares and 0.8 hectares for females. ^[first] They communicate via calls, odor males through urine and anal brands as well as optical signals. In the latter, the bright tail plays a central role in particular, which is moved in a jerky way. Different greasy, Grunz, click, twittering and other calls are used as acoustic signals. ^{[2] [first]}

The pairing behavior is initiated by the persecution of the females by males willing to mate, who signal this by murder. This probably also stimulates ovulation. The gestation time is 60 to 65 days. You will probably only get one litter a year, which consists of one or two young animals with a weight of 13 to 14 grams; Several litters are possible in captivity. The females put nests from leaves in tree caves for their throw and keep them clean. The young animals open their eyes after seven to ten days, they leave the nest for the first time after about 18 days and are weaned by the mother after about 40 days. ^{[first] [2] [first]}

The predators of species are probably primarily birds of prey, snakes and sneaking cats. Young animals are rather captivated by tree -living snakes and sneaking cats, adult animals tend to be birds of prey. ^[first]

The red -belly bush horns from Wilhelm Peters’ travel description from 1852

The red -belly bush horns is an independent species within the genus of the African bush hearing ( Paraxerus ) classified that consists of eleven species. ^[5] The first description of the scientific description comes from the German zoologen and natural scientist Wilhelm Peters from 1852, which is used by a pregnant female from the mainland of Moçambique as Squirrel cloak described. ^[6] Peters put a much more extensive description in his travel report in the same year Science trip to Mossambique before. ^{[7] [first] [5]}

With the nominate form, six to seven subspecies are differentiated within the species: ^[2]

• Paraxerus cloak : Nominate form; occurs on the coast of Tanzania and in the northern Mozambique. The nominate form has reddish-brown feet.
• Paraxerus cloak : On the islands of Mafia and Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania, the subspecies have black feet.
• Paraxerus palliatus : in the Ngoye forest in the Eshowe district in northern South Africa. The subspecies are large and the back fur is colored brown-black, the belly side is red-brown orange. The tail is dark brown to black with orange -colored wash.
• Paraxerus cloak bride : On the east coast of Mozambique, south of the Save. The subspecies corresponds to the nominate form.
• Paraxerus palliatus swynnertoni : in the Chirinda forest in the eastern Zimbabwe. The shape has a cinnamon-colored red-brown abdominal and cheek coloring, the back color and the face are grayish black and sand paints. Compared to the nominate form and Paraxerus palliatus is this subspecies smaller.
• Paraxerus cloak tana : in the southern Somalia over the eastern Kenya to the Pangani in northeastern Tanzania. The tail of this subspecies is colored completely red-brown orange.

In DEM WERK Mammals of Africa from 2013 and in Mammal Species of the World From 2005 was with Paraxerus bridgemani described another subspecies and named as potentially own kind, ^[5] Up to 11 subspecies are even recognized in older sources. ^[first] The Vincent croissant ( Paraxerus Vincent ) is accepted as an independent manner today. ^[first]

The red -belly bush horns is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) as not endangered (Least Concern). This is justified by the large distribution area of ​​the species, their good adaptability to different habitats and habitat changes as well as the acceptance of high existing figures. Potential risks that endanger the existence are currently not known, although a large part of the coastal forests have been cut down or changed in recent decades. ^[4]

1. ↑ ^{a b c d It is f g h i j k l m n O p q} Richard W. Thorington Jr., Lindsay A. Pappas, Chad E. Shennum: Paraxerus palliatus, Red Bush Squirrel. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (ed.): Mammals of Africa Volume III. Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury, London 2013, S. 84–85; ISBN 978-1-4081-2253-2.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d It is f g} Richard W. Thorington Jr., John L. Koprowski, Michael A. Steele: Squirrels of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2012; S. 242–244. ISBN 978-1-4214-0469-1
3. ↑ Peter Grubb: Genus Paraxerus, Bush Squirrels. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (ed.): Mammals of Africa Volume III. Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury, London 2013, S. 72–74; ISBN 978-1-4081-2253-2.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Paraxerus palliatus in the red list of endangered types of IUCN 2016-1. Posted by: P. Grubb, 2008. accessed on September 4, 2016.
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Paraxerus cloak . In: Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (Hrsg.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. 2 volumes. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4.
6. ↑ Wilhelm Peters: Some new mammals and river fish from Mozambique. Report on the negotiations of the Konigl. Preuss. Academy of Sciences in Berlin 1852, pp. 273–276 ( [first] )
7. ↑ Wilhelm Peters: Scientific journey to Mossambique: At the command of his majesty of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV from 1842 to 1848. Berlin, 1852, S. 1–205 (S. 134–136) ( [2] )

• Richard W. Thorington Jr., John L. Koprowski, Michael A. Steele: Squirrels of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2012; S. 242–244. ISBN 978-1-4214-0469-1.
• Richard W. Thorington Jr., Lindsay A. Pappas, Chad E. Shennum: Paraxerus palliatus, Red Bush Squirrel. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (ed.): Mammals of Africa Volume III. Rodents, Hares and Rabbits. Bloomsbury, London 2013, S. 84–85; ISBN 978-1-4081-2253-2.